Misadventures of the World Tournament
by Nimondor
Summary: Told through the eyes of Red's pokemon, the Pokemon World Tournament seems like the thrill of a lifetime! When they arrive, he begins to fall for a Unova native so Pikachu and the gang decide to help Red with something he's never done before: get a date with White! Well, with a couple of clingy best friends and Team Plasma trying to come back, it shouldn't be too hard... right?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hey there! Thanks for checking out this fic! Just a few things before we get started:

(1) This fic is _strictly game-verse_. That means there's no Ash, no Yellow, etc.

(2) Most chapters are in Pikachu's POV, but you will get to hear from the others along the road — every one of Red's team will have their own chapter.

(3) Although this does focus mainly on RedxHilda, there are other pairings later down the road. I won't list them though :P

(4) All main male and female protagonists are here (though I exempted Crystal and kept Lyra) and although they may not have a major part with them all, we'll at least get to meet them more than once.

(5) "Human speech" — _"Pokemon speech" _— _Red's thoughts _(as translated by Espeon)

(6) This is cross posted onto AO3 as well.

That's it, I think. Read and enjoy!

* * *

_1_

_Pikachu_

Sometimes a simple question could lead to several complicated answers. The most common one that was asked was simply: what is it like being a part of the strongest team in the world? Well, the simplest answer given is just awesome.

There are several different reasons why I don't ever want to _not_ be a part of it. One: it's an amazing experience, getting to travel all the time, fighting the bad guys and kicking ass and two: all of my friends were a part of it. So why did we head up an Arceus-forsaken death mountain in the middle of nowhere with nothing but snow and bone-chilling wind to keep us company? Most people said it was because we had gained so much fame in such a short amount of time we wanted to disappear. Others claimed that we were plain ol' crazy (and I sort of agreed with them, Red has his moments). However, both answers were wrong. We went up to do what a pokemon trainer does best: train.

It had always been about getting stronger, being the best we could be and do what no other team has done before. We stayed on that mountain and called it home. We made a little cave off to the side of the peak as our humble abode. Snorlax had made the heavy door to block icy winds and snow from coming in with his immense physical strength. Charizard kept it warm with his strong flames. Venusaur gave it color and life with its different leaves and seeds. Blastoise provided much needed running water and teamed up with Charizard to make a constant warm bath. Espeon would keep the noise level from outside to a minimum, letting harsh blizzards become as loud as simple breezes. As for me? Well obviously, I provided all electrical power to the cavern home.

Our trainer would go out and gather our food and keep it constantly stocked. How he manages to disappear from all of our vision and come back with food was always unexpected of us but he would always come back safe and sound. I would always shock him when he did it, though. I didn't like it when he would wander off alone down the mountain. It was too dangerous for a human to go down there! Those wild pokemon could think of him as fodder and kill him with a simple Ice Beam for Arceus' sake!

Anyway, we have a particular reputation we just had to keep up and it was also the reason why we were up here. Apparently, humans that don't live on the mountain thought that we had disappeared because we were depressed because of our quick rise to success and fame when in all actuality, it was completely different. To get stronger meant getting stronger together, including our trainer. We all worked just as hard as the next pokemon—or human—and by the end of a full day of training, we were all exhausted and ready to eat dinner and crash for the night only to start the simple routine again in the early morning. We would continue to strive to remain the strongest trainer in the world. Arceus be damned if we weren't.

Red and I met in a little place called Pallet Town. I was recently caught, so naturally I wasn't too happy to be given away by a snot-nosed little twerp who was all smiles. His friend even challenged him to a battle in the middle of the lab with a little Eevee, who seemed as if he had been recently caught as well. When I came out victorious, Red's friend, Blue, had declared them to be eternal rivals before leaving his grandfather and the lab. I wasn't sure what to think of my new trainer and being another rookie from a tiny little place, I hardly expected we would go anywhere or do anything awesome.

For some reason, though, something in the back of my mind was telling me that this kid was different. He wasn't like all the other cocky, self-centered bastards who tried to catch me in Viridian Forest. I ignored that little voice and decided to not like him for the most part of the beginning of our travels. During that time, Red told me to trust him no matter what would happen. He hadn't said a word when we were in the laboratory, and once we were alone he finally mustered the courage to introduce himself (though already knew his name, Blue and Professor Oak called this human by his name several times). But I frowned at him instead, long ears laid back in irritation.

We had wandered off near the gates of Victory Road earlier that week and caught a Mankey, fought Blue again and was promptly kicked out of the entrance of the last road for having zero gym badges. Red had learned quickly, the hard and painful way, that day that electric types didn't fare too well against rock type pokemon that could squish you in a matter of seconds. He was just a human, he was no pokemon. He didn't know what it was like going into battle like we did. I never really understood why he told me that until we met Brock, the rock-type gym leader of Pewter City. It was my first personal loss, Red was just a beginner and he'd never seen a rock pokemon up close, I believe. His eyes had betrayed nervousness and a bit of fear from the immense size of Onix.

As you can tell, I didn't quite understand what kind of trust to give him after that for a few days. He was a rookie trainer, I was a weak pokemon then and neither of us had no clue how the world worked outside of our own homes. Throughout the trip through Mount Moon, even during our first encounter with Team Rocket, I refused to listen to him most times and he was forced to use Mankey for many of the battles. I would fight if I felt like it, but after a horde of Zubat we all decided it best just to start running towards the exit.

Other than that, we went through Mount Moon easy enough and beat Misty soon after, then Red put Mankey into the PC system and that was when Bulbasaur joined us. We decided to do a fair bit of training to get him up to our levels on route 4 before moving on. Bulbasaur didn't like me at first, he called me a spoiled brat most of the time and even asked for me to stop shocking our trainer, but completely ignoring him, I continued to follow them towards the grassy route and that was the only time when I disobeyed Red and ultimately regretted my decision.

We encountered an Ekans, and I'm sure Red thought we could beat it easily enough, but I was a being a little— no pun intended—brat, still pissed off that he'd put me up against a freaking Onix for our very first gym battle! I only took on Misty because I _knew _I could beat those water pokemon. Bulbasaur was in his pokéball when he looked at me, trying to get me to battle but instead I sat down on the ground, admiring the grass as Red frustratingly tried to get me to use Thundershock. He wanted to fill the pokédex, I understood that, but the little ten-year-old brat needed to learn some damn respect! think I hold grudges for too long.

Back on topic, he seemed to notice something off and tried to get me to stand up since I refused to be put into my pokéball, and what do you know? I look up and there's an Arbok slithering right behind my trainer looking justly pissed off about Red trying to catch her child. I remember her warning us to get away but she didn't hesitate to attack and I'm quite sure she wanted to kill him, actually. She was too fast for us and nearly hit me with a Poison Sting and _did_ hit Red in the arm with one. Bulbasaur had escaped his pokéball and evolved into Ivysaur to save us, throwing the two off of us with a powerful Vine Whip. With Red on the ground in pain and yanking the stinger out of his upper arm I panicked and I tried to grab an antidote. I thought that if it could work on me, it could work on him. Despite the pain he was suddenly in, Red managed a laugh, shaking his head as he got back up.

Ivysaur and I struggled to get Red back to Cerulean City, he was getting sicker and it was getting dark. I'll bet he would have died if it hadn't been for Misty biking along the road towards Mount Moon. I heard from other pokemon that an Arbok's poison could kill a full grown human. She came to his rescue and took him to the pokemon center to get the poison out of his body. Ivysaur was angry with me, but he told me that I should pay more attention next time. When Red had woken up, I was astonished to hear him speak to me for only the second time since our first meeting. He just told me that he wasn't angry at me and only wanted to know if we were all right, smiling through his weariness.

I'm pretty sure I cried for an entire week.

We reached Celadon City a few months after that, we had discovered Team Rocket again. Truthfully, I did not want to go anywhere near that place, I could just smell the unhappiness and dread from below our feet. Red didn't understand what I was so anxious about at first, but after we had battled a suspicious man and discovered a staircase that led to a secret basement, we had to do something about it. We saw several pokéballs in crates, bags and on the walls, many of which I knew weren't theirs and it was revealed to us that Team Rocket sold those pokemon for several thousand dollars, by using the coins from the game corner as payment.

We out found the man by the name of Giovanni was running the entire operation, the same man who ignorantly taunted Red when he didn't say anything. He even offered a position in the team for my trainer and quite angrily, Red threw Wartortle's pokéball, initiating a battle instead. Charmeleon and I protected our rear, stopping other grunts from getting inside with their damn Raticate, Zubat and Ekans they tried to send at us. Ivysaur was used as backup with Wartortle when Giovanni also released a Rhydon alongside his Rhyhorn.

Somehow in the midst of the chaos, we had defeated Team Rocket and Giovanni had gotten away. Red looked irritated that the crime lord had fled but turned to us and we fell into a giant, awkward, relieved and happy hug. I finally understood what he meant by trusting him. If I could trust him, then everything would be all right and we wouldn't have to worry about a thing. Hey, at least he was the brains.

We took down Team Rocket and earned our last badge (quite the shock to find out it was Giovanni, I think Red could have fainted if it weren't for a very steady statue), gratefully going through Victory Road (it was strange seeing the same guard at the first post but thankfully he didn't recognize us) and confronted the Elite Four. They were a challenge, each specializing in a specific type just like the gym leaders, though once we got through them, Red seemed to be more shocked than angry that Blue had gotten there first. When he had sent out a Rhydon, Red frowned; Venusaur and Blastoise were both out but he knew he wouldn't send in Charizard, but Espeon and Snorlax were both at full health, as was I. He had grabbed Snorlax's pokéball but stopped when I leaped forward, looking at him with a loud, "Pika!" He hesitated; I could have cost him a victory but instead, he nodded and put the pokéball back. Blue laughed, saying how stupid it was to send out an electric type pokemon against a ground- and rock-type pokemon.

Trainer and pokemon had to trust each other, and we did just that. In the end, we defeated Blue and gained our champion title only to give it back to Lance to continue our journey to the peak of Mount Silver. A pokemon trainer couldn't stop training, even if it was for some fancy title.

X-X-X

It was lightly snowing one morning, all of us were already up and out of the cave, already having eaten our share of breakfast. Myself and Espeon usually ate upwards of two to five berries, depending on how hungry we were while the others ate at least ten, or perhaps fifty or sixty in Snorlax's case if he wasn't that hungry. I felt like it was an odd day to begin with since whenever it snowed, it either was in blizzard white-out conditions or it wasn't snowing at all, not the fluffy snow that barely touched the ground and became powder. The others sensed it as well, but none of us thought of it.

Another sign was that our trainer's frienemy came up to deliver a strange letter with a strange symbol on the back. Blue seemed like to be his usual cocky self, but he himself seemed genially excited about whatever was inside of the envelope. "Aw, c'mon, Red, just open it up and read it! It's nothing bad, I promise!" Blue said, causing an eyebrow raise from the other human. The two of them were the same height, maybe Blue was a few inches taller because of that damn hair, but apparently hair didn't count on a human for height.

Red gave a quiet sigh and ripped the letter open solely out of irritation, causing the others to stop out of curiosity. I, being the smallest of the six, sprang over to our trainer and sat on his right shoulder, peering over the side of his head to stare at the strange letters written on the paper. The human used as my chair, however, I felt him go still. At first, I was worried he'd stopped breathing and was having a form of heart attack, and maybe I was right. I heard him give a sharp inhale and look up at Blue, who was still smiling, his face telling us that he knew Red would have the reaction he gave. "I know, right? So, do you wanna go?"

_"Go? Go where?"_ I tried asking Red, but of course I didn't get any other answer but a strangely excited look. My ears twitched, turning my head back and forth between them curiously. Red looked back at the paper in his hands and flashed a rare smile, confirming with a nod and their personal fist-bump.

"Yes! You're going down, Red! You aren't the only one who has gotten stronger after all this time! Our championship match was four years ago, that's more than enough time to get even stronger!"

I had no idea what was going on but with all the excitement those two had, I felt it start to rub off on me as I smiled as well. He scratched my ears with his free hand and I felt all of my confusion melt away almost immediately as he pet that one spot I could never get. I felt myself give a small, _"Chaaaaa…."_ I regretted it, I heard the others sicker behind me. Well, damn them too! They all had their spots that, of course, Red knew about. He could make all of us faint by scratching our stomachs sometimes, I am sure of it. What? It feels good!

Blue the annoying trainer snapped me out of my thoughts as he annoyingly exclaimed, "Yo, Red! I'll be at Gramp's lab tomorrow, I'll see you there, 'kay?" Nod. "He's got tickets and everything for the way there." Another nod.

Satisfied by the nods, Blue turned around and gave us a backwards wave as he headed back down the mountain on his trusty Pidgeot. "Don't be late!" he shouted through the wind. I watched with fascination; he wasn't lying, they had gotten more powerful as well. The first time I had seen Blue ride Pidgeot to get to the top of the mountain, she was breathing hard and looked exhausted. Charizard had to give them a ride back down that day. Now she looked slightly breathless, but I could tell she would give us a challenge in whatever battle that was sure to happen.

Red turned towards the others, who watched him with utter curiosity, save for Espeon. She seemed to already know what was going on. I sometimes wish I was psychic just to know what was going on in our silent trainer's head. I tilted my own head as Red took all of our pokéballs in his hands, except for mine and Charizard's. He opened his mouth, his quiet voice saying, "Let's get ready for a tournament."

We gave our roars of approval and now I knew why Red and Blue were so excited before. For one, they would get the so-called 'epic' rematch they always wanted and two, we were finally going to have a real battle somewhere off of this freezing mountain. How was he fine with just a light jacket and a t-shirt underneath? _How?_ Even Espeon didn't have an answer for that.

We did have an unfair advantage, though. Our trainer _never_ spoke when we fought, he would always use hand signals. There was nothing against a rule about doing that, so he took advantage of it. I think he was relieved too. I remember the professor handing my pokéball to him for the first time, an unsure, awkward little kid getting handed a responsibility meant for people to lead seemed like something he didn't want to do. Because he never spoke, I grew frustrated with him and he got frustrated with me because I didn't understand. But one day in our first battle, I don't know how or why, but it all just sort of clicked together. Pointing up was Thunder, a fist was Slam and the list went on and on.

The only person who gave us a hard time was Blue, and those two other human kids, Lyra and Ethan. Now _that _was a wake-up call that we had to get stronger. Where Lyra lacked strength she made up for in defense however Ethan was a whole other story.

The kid was good and dare I say it, he was just as good as us. He'd even made it up to the top of the mountain on his first try and had defeated nearly all of us and it was me against his Typhlosion. It was Thunder versus Eruption. But Typhlosion was the first to fall. I made sure he stayed down before I collapsed myself. The next thing I knew, I was being held by Red, who was smiling at me for a job well done, but for some reason the other kid seemed to be ecstatic as well. He had, after all, nearly beaten the undefeated trainer, and if my assumptions are correct, we could be seeing that same kid in whatever tournament we were participating in.

But a glint in Red's eyes told me something else; that fire in his eyes told me he was about to work harder than ever before to beat this thing. Excitement was beginning to form around all of us as he picked me up and jumped onto Charizard's back to take off. I looked up at him, grinning at him.

The tournament had better watch out—we were back in the battling scene.

X-X-X


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thank you to those who favorited and/or followed! Interweb cookies for you all! I encourage reviews though, I like hearing what all of you have to say, whether it's good or bad that way I can improve my writing skills. Anyway, enough babbling. Here's chapter two!

* * *

_2_

_Pikachu_

Small towns have always been the best kind of places in the world. Even when I was a wild pokemon, I could always come here to Pallet Town and get any food humans left untouched, play with other pokemon wandering around in Professor Oak's laboratory or if I was in a feisty mood, battle other beginning trainers. Now instead of seeing this place as a sanctuary, I saw this place as another home. Everyone—from humans down to any pokemon—were always so welcoming of us, and the hometown heroes would always get a proper greeting from the town with great food from everyone.

Although we didn't come often, I'm sure most of us enjoyed coming here for the food. Sure, Red was a good enough cook when he had the materials, but up in the chilling mountain not much grew so we were all forced to mainly eat berries and pre-packaged meals that Charizard could easily warm up. Coming to Pallet Town could be considered a blessing from Arceus himself. Even after getting so much good food from his mother, Red would always give Espeon and I some scraps he didn't want as if he felt guilty we couldn't get much more up on the mountain. We stayed for a short time mostly, including this little visit—we stayed for only two days before Red and Blue headed for an airport that would take us to the tournament.

We couldn't go through the front entrance, of course, the crowds would be thick if anyone discovered we were there with Blue, both traveling somewhere together and, for obvious reasons, security allowed us to go through the back way to avoid any conflicts. After all, we could miss our flight if anyone discovered we were here. They would pounce and bother us and we probably would have reached the car two hours late.

X-X-X

So, why did we take the backroads and scenic routes? Easy. The reason why we take different routes first happened a few days after the championship match. Blue was pissed at Red for beating him, Red looked downright guilty for taking Professor Oak's approval, but both were still able to tolerate each other's presence for the time being, both unaware of the sudden fame they had earned. It was the first time we decided to go to Pallet Town for a visit since Red and I left for our journey together. The others hadn't met his mother, so they were unsure about it but didn't complain.

All we were doing was getting a bite to eat before we headed out, but a random encounter with a trainer caused him to scream, "It's Red! It's the champion!" I was deaf for at least a minute. Red was just surprised, growing tense with all the sudden attention at the diner, and luckily we managed to escape without being trampled and no one could match Charizard's speed in the air. As we flew off, I looked down curiously. The throngs of people had their cameras out, trying to get a snap at us before we disappeared. I wanted to take pictures, I like being recognized since before I started traveling, hell, before I was even born, us Pikachu weren't very popular among the battling arena. Most humans consider us to be fast, but weak when it came to fighting and taking hits.

Red decided to prove not only myself, but all the other Pikachu and humans that we weren't a weak pokemon. With the right training, any of us could be powerful, just like any other pokemon. I noticed that after we became champions, more and more people had a Pikachu or two in their teams, and even an Eevee here and there. I highly doubt a Magikarp could put up much of a fight, though. They do taste wonderful when they're baked, however. Especially Red's mother's cooking.

Anyway, ever since that first bombardment of people rushing at us at the same time, we decided to take the back routes, the long way home, go grocery shopping in disguises. For Red, it meant without the red hat and jacket, most people didn't recognize him without it. It surprised me, how stupid were humans? To be a champion team also meant dealing with stupid people, I guess.

Blue told us that he'd been ambushed at a local clothes shop trying to find his current outfit, his tan pants and black jacket. At first he had relished in their attention but after trying to get out, the people wouldn't let up, reporters had come, trying to get an interview with him and after he'd had it, he escaped on Pidgeot, who gladly took him away. I swear that bird always had a thing for her trainer, which was a bit awkward considering she stood at the same height as he did when he turned thirteen.

It was tense for a while as we hid on the top of a roof away from the crowds below and we were all silent for nearly a half hour before Blue was the one who initiated a conversation to fill the awkward and painful silence. Eventually, the two trainers had confided in each other what had happened to the two of them and agreed to put their anger aside to figure out what to do in order to avoid the desperate crowds to get a glimpse or a challenge out of them in the future. I think it was the best thing for the two, I heard them say that they used to be best friends, but they grew apart as they grew older. After they helped each other out of other outrageous situations, they grew close again, becoming the friends that they used to be.

One day after a year or so after the championship match, they had been running and Red pulled Blue into an alley, successfully hiding them from view. _"What do you say about a truce?"_ Blue had asked, looking at Red as they tried catching their breaths. Red looked at him curiously, leaning against the wall. Blue got off of said wall, turning to face him and offered a hand. _"That we won't be enemies anymore. I promise to help you if you promise to help me."_ Red stared at him and finally smiled with a nod, shaking his hand, confirming their deal.

X-X-X

In Pallet Town, we knew everyone in town and they knew us just as well, making a few upset that we already needed to leave to go to wherever we were going. The neighbor's Kangaskhan didn't want to let Red go, even picking him up off his feet to hug him tightly. I laughed as he yelped in the tight grip but he smiled as he patted her arm. She released him and just as quickly did the same to Blue although he fought more than Red did, causing the neighbor to laugh alongside Daisy and Red's mother. Red was hiding a laugh of his own, pleased to see our rival's embarrassed and look.

As they and Professor Oak all said their good-byes, a car pulled up to take us away though Red's mother smiled when she approached us. "I'll come out there when the tournament begins, I want to see my baby battle, after all!" She hugged him tightly then chuckled as his face flushed slightly. I heard Blue laughing at him from somewhere behind us. "Oh come on, Mr. Kanto Champion can't handle a little bit of mom's fun?" She pinched his cheek smiled as he rolled his eyes and gently pushed her hand off. She picked me up out of my trainer's arms, scratching behind my ears. "And you, cutie, watch out for him."

_"Will do!"_ I confirmed, smiling as she patted my head one last time and let me jump back onto Red's shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go already!" Blue said.

"Patience is a virtue!" Daisy said to him as he waved at her and their grandfather, walking away with one hand in his pocket, soon stuffing the other into the next pocket.

Red looked at his mother one last time and smiled before following Blue inside the car that sped through the road and headed straight for the Viridian City airport.

X-X-X

It wasn't a large place, it was a basic, gray building but we did not stop at the parking lot; instead, the driver continued towards the back, eventually stopping at a set of gates where a pair of officers led us around to the tarmac. Above our heads in the halls we were surely walking under, I could hear many footsteps, some sounding like they were taking their trips leisurely, a few sounded like they were running. I stared at one of the large planes in the far back of the airport suddenly speed off until it took off into the air. I watched until I heard Blue ask suddenly, "Do you think people in Unova will know who we are?"

I had no idea, at the time, where Unova even was. Hell, I'd never been on an airplane before until that day. Red tilted his own head in thought but shrugged as they kept walking and stopped as soon as we reached a smaller plane than the ones in the far back with people and a few Machoke running around it to get it prepped for its next flight as the smaller Machop ran around gathering whatever their evolutions needed as a single Machamp barked orders and directions from somewhere else on the tarmac.

"Oh, come on. People in Johto through Sinnoh know who you are at least, but maybe Unova doesn't. That means at least a little bit of relaxation, right?" He patted a hand against his back, though Red didn't seem to be paying attention, a bored look on his face. "We can actually hang out in public without being bombarded by people or cameras." Blue suddenly grinned, knowing how to get my trainer's short attention span back. "We may be traveling together for now, but I intend on beating you at the tournament."

Red cocked a brow, silently daring him to try though he was starting to grow excited again. I raised a fist, mimicking his enthusiasm with a strong, "Pika pi!" I wasn't about to lost to anyone during this tournament, and I'd make sure we'd give everyone one hell of a fight.

Blue turned his eyes towards me, tossing a pokéball into the air that he caught. "I'm sure Jolteon wants a rematch as well."

I bobbed my head up and down. I sure did! That little fox of thunder needed to be sure of his place! Right beneath me with my victory in battle! My cheeks sparked in anxiousness and Red gave me _the_ look, silently telling me to behave. I obeyed somewhat begrudgingly snapped back to attention when I heard a noise above us, like something hitting a window. I looked up and blinked when I saw what was causing the distinctive noise.

There was a kid standing there—no older than five—and stared right at me with huge eyes. Kind of awkward, but I guess I grew used to those stares from children, they always wanted to pet me, and usually it hurt but no matter what I did my best not to just Thunderbolt them all away. The child's pounding had attracted the attention of his mother, and soon the crowd gathered near the window, looking excited. Red looked at me in confusion when he noticed I wasn't paying attention to what he and Blue were talking about anymore—well, mainly Blue—both humans looked up, following my eyes with their own. Blue gave a soft scoff while Red sighed in exasperation.

"Well, it was only a matter of time before they found out you two were here."

Both Blue and Red turned around, hearing the new, but very recognizable baritone voice. The man who stood out in fashion anywhere stood there: spiky red hair and still a head taller than the two teenagers who had bested him in a single day. The last time we'd seen him, maybe a year and a half ago or so, Red barely reached the dragon trainer's chest and now they were both up to his shoulders. Lance smiled at them, six pokéballs that contained his precious dragon team sitting at his waist gleaming in the sunlight. "You two are finally catching up," he added slightly mischievously regarding their height, grinning at Red's annoyed scowl. He may have been shorter than Blue when they were only ten, but now the two trainers were nearly the same in height, much to Red's relief and Blue's distress.

"Lance? You're coming too?" Blue asked, completely ignoring the remark, and Lance nodded. "Oh, then you'll get your ass handed to you again."

The Dragon Master smiled confidently. "Even I have the time to train my pokemon, I'm much stronger than the last time you fought me, gym leader Blue." He chuckled at the annoyance on Blue's face. "It is what you are, gym leader, former champion—"

"Don't even get me started on former champion," Blue retorted and Red gave another sigh of annoyance. It wasn't new that Lance and Blue were like oil and vinegar, they had a love-hate relationship ever since they had first met at the Indigo Plateau.

"Well, it was unexpected that you kids challenged me and defeated me so I re-built my team to best both of you." Red and Blue casted each other an amused look before Blue burst out laughing and looked up at the red-haired trainer.

"Your entire team?"

"Don't get me started," Lance replied within a heartbeat, smiling as he used Blue's words against him, causing the other former champion to stop laughing instantly.

There was a feminine voice that said with a sigh, "Are they at it again?"

Red turned as Lance and Blue bickered with each other like little kids, and standing there were Erika, who was smiling despite the noise the other two caused, Misty, with her arms crossed across her chest and annoyed with Blue instantly. Brock gave a quiet wave as Lieutenant Surge, as cocky as ever, grinned beside Sabrina, who remained silent. Blaine was also there, chatting merrily with Janine. I wasn't sure what to make of her, but from what I heard, she had taken over her father's gym and was doing a decent job. She had improved since she first began, constantly improving and honing her ninja skills with Koga, who moved onto the Elite Four.

The one in the back, silently watching everyone was the one that Red glared at the most, already looking furious. Giovanni was standing quietly with his trench coat covering up his suit that was most likely embedded with the Team Rocket logo. Sure, after we defeated him the final time at his former gym he disbanded Team Rocket, but I still wasn't completely trustful of the awful man and I wasn't surprised that Red still hated him.

I was surprised he was even here. He was the leader of Team Rocket, and he'd gotten an invite to participate in this tournament? Gym leader-wise, I honestly don't understand why not, he was a capable gym leader but from any view point—and putting it mildly—he was just a not so nice human being. I'm sure Red and the others wouldn't even consider him someone worthy enough to still be walking around free from prison after everything he'd done. Even I didn't, not after what we had seen years ago. My cheeks sparked when I caught sight of him, and the others weren't immune to our hatred for the man glaring right back at Red.

At the Silph Co. building in Saffron city, Team Rocket had taken over it to steal the plans for the master ball, the only pokéball in the world that could catch _any_ pokemon. Red and I ran through the building as quick as we could, trying to get to the top floor to be rid of the damned criminal organization. We freed trapped pokemon along the way but it had just felt so… empty.

Most of the employees had been set free, the ones they didn't need, though the scientists were kept to try and replicate the plans they had never seen. However, on the fifth floor, we had stumbled upon a dark room that made Red gag instantly from the rancid smell and awful sight. I'm sure it had been the employees that had fought back all in the corner on top of each other in a messy pile. Each of the bodies—both human _and_ pokemon—had various wounds that made us assume that they had been mauled by a large and powerful pokemon to death.

In all our lives, neither of us would have expected to see a room full of bloodied bodies lying around like dirty dish rags. After Red had composed himself, I'd never seen him in such a rage before, his knuckles were turning white he was squeezing his fists so tightly and he bared his teeth at the scene like a caged ursaring. If he had been angry before, that was like a dream full of lollipops and fluffy, cute pokemon. Usually he was so good at hiding his emotions, even with his own pokemon, but even I felt the rage rub off on me as I sprinted after Red, using Thunderbolt on every pokemon and grunt we caught sight of, knocking them out instantly.

When we had finally reached the office at the top of the building, Giovanni was sitting on the couch with his feet up on the table with a glass of red wine in his hand with the president of Silph Co. nowhere to be seen. I was reminded of what I had seen in that room, giving my best ferocious growl as I could as the man smiled cheerfully, uncaring of what his grunts were doing to the humans and pokemon they didn't need. My growl only caused the boss member to laugh and set his glass down. He even had the nerve to offer Red some wine before the young trainer pointed a finger, commanding another Thunder, intending to take him down in one hit.

It was a near-loss on both sides eventually, his ground-type pokemon had taken out most of Red's pokemon, though Blastoise was still standing up against Nidoking, who was panting of exhaustion. Blastoise was likewise tired, but he wasn't about to show it to our trainer nor Giovanni and the opposing Nidoking. "Fine," Giovanni had said and rose a hand. "Nidoking, use Hyper Beam! Destroy this place!"

Red immediately returned the tired Blastoise then threw himself over me—my pokeball had been lost somewhere in the building. The following blast sent both of us into a wall and to the floor below us as the roof caved in and I heard Red grunt in pain from the impact. My ears were ringing from the blast and after the dust had settled, we looked up and stood, but Red looked like he wanted to pass out though he kept himself upright and glared at the blank spot where Giovanni and Nidoking had been. A helicopter was flying away, just as sirens started to fill the air and flashing lights filled our vision. Red gritted his teeth angrily then picked me up with arm, the other one hanging limply beside him as he stumbled for the door. I didn't doubt he'd dislocated his shoulder to protect me from sustaining any more damage. Blue had finally decided to arrive after the explosion, looking pale himself, and upon seeing us, he helped Red down the stairs and out the building, where we received instant medical treatment.

It was the only time I admitted to myself that I really did hate someone, a human no less. I wasn't sure if we should consider it a victory or a loss, and I still don't know. Seeing the man who had caused so much grief and misery in front of us again made me want to fight him, hissing and happy that Red did nothing to stop those hisses but the dangerous aura that flew out of him caused the other gym leaders to hesitate and instinctively take a step back. Giovanni remained where he was, hand in his pocket where no doubt his own pokeballs were.

Almost immediately after Red had taken a step, Blue pulled us away from those narrowed eyes, whispering in Red's ear, "You can have at him at the tournament, not here." He nodded towards the awe-struck and nervous fans staring at the tarmac, and even a couple that looked disappointed that a battle that could have happened was interrupted. Red didn't relax but I could still feel how tense his shoulders were, refusing to even look at Giovanni as he spun around on a heel, glaring over at Blue, silently demanding why he had stopped him but Blue chose to ignore it. "I don't know why he's here, but I guess any gym leader, former or current can participate in this thing."

I narrowed my eyes at Giovanni as he seemed to relax a little, removing his hand from his pocket and shot a dark look at me, saying nothing. I gave a final hiss at him just for the sake of hissing and turned around again on Red's shoulder, huffing with annoyance.

Soon after they had all arrived, the stairs that led inside of the plane came down and we boarded rapidly. Red sat as far away from Giovanni as he could, still in a sour mood as he held me in his lap, feeding me delicious poffins he magically had in his backpack. Blue sat beside him on the isle side of the seats. "Would ya stop being upset already?" Blue suddenly asked Red, who ignored him. "It's really starting to get on my nerves."

"Like you don't get on everyone else's?" Misty asked, who was sitting beside the two. Blue turned around in his seat, pointing a finger in her face.

"You irritate me too! You're so hot tempered! Just like hot head here!"

Red shot him a glare and Misty grew furious, instantly shoving her own finger in his face as well.

"Well _excuse_ me for not going out of my way to annoy everyone and their moms, but you definitely are just as much of a hot head as Ethan is!"

"What?! That kid? You're comparing me to _him_?!"

"Yes! You both get so angry over nothing!"

"So do you, temperamental brat!"

"You little—"

I sighed, ears twitching in annoyance and Red shot me a small smile and nod, allowing me to use a weak Thundershock against the two humans. The instant silence was a bless for us, and quite possibly the other passengers on the plane.

Misty's seat-mate, Erika, giggled when the two went still, their hair fried beyond recognition. "It's a good look for both of you," she teased.

"Red!" Blue snapped, but soon brushed it off, getting the hint as he sat back down in his seat, arms crossed against his chest.

Misty leaned against her own seat. "Can you believe him? Letting Pikachu shock us to shut us up."

"It worked, did it not?" Erika replied calmly, smiling as Misty gritted her teeth together, her face turning a bright pink out of embarrassment.

I gave an innocent smile, sitting on Red's shoulder to look at her. I looked back over at Red, seeing him dig through his backpack the moment the plane was at a steady height. He pulled out a small mp3 player, plugging the white earplugs into his ear and turned on his music with a heavy sigh. It was a six hour flight, might as well get comfortable. I sat back down into his lap, glad he scratched my ears I yawned as I heard the dim bass from the earplugs, a hypnotizing sound to Red as well, it seemed, as he covered his face with his hat and became completely still within twenty minutes. His grip on the player relaxed and his breathing became deeper.

I yawned and looked at him and then up as Blue blinked and shook his head, leaning in his own seat. "How can he sleep like that? He was stressed out just a second ago," he mumbled to himself, keeping a close eye behind him, where Giovanni sat alone beside the window, his own eyes closed but he wasn't asleep like my trainer was. My ears twitched and Blue looked at me, as if sensing that I didn't want to sleep simply because I didn't want to take my eyes off of the horrible man in the back either. "Don't worry, Pikachu. I'm not tired, but you are so go to sleep. I'm keeping an eye on him," he told me. I knew who 'him' was and it wasn't my trainer. "You can trust me."

It didn't completely comfort me but it put aside some of my nervousness and finally I nodded, going back to trying to sleep.

X-X-X

I felt like I only slept for a few minutes, since I was being shaken gently. _"Pika…!"_ I whined, blinking my bleary eyes open as Red smiled, wide awake and pointed outside the dark window. I turned my eyes outside; almost immediately my weariness was gone. There was a large, distinct building that was near the water's edge, filled with bright lights that lit up the night sky. I could see little booths with lights surrounding it, and several people walking around.

I looked up as a voice came through the loudspeaker calmly. "Thank you for flying Air Kanto, we are now arriving to Driftveil City, home of the Pokemon World Championship. On behalf of all of Kanto, we wish all of you good luck!"

A world championship? All kinds of different pokemon we'd never seen would be entered in this competition, I was sure of that. I could sense the excitement suddenly coming through the humans in the plane, the thrill of a real challenge was upon us all.

It had been so long since any of us have had a real challenge, and I already knew what Red and I were going to do during that week—we were going to train as hard as we could. Red was staring out the window, his face blank of emotion but his eyes betraying anxiousness. I patted his leg, smiling up at him as he turned his head to me.

"_What's wrong with you? We're almost there!" _Although he couldn't understand me, he smiled anyhow, scratching my ears once before looking away and I frowned a little. Whatever was on his mind at this moment, I was determined to cheer him up and climbed up to his shoulder, tugging his ear to catch his attention again.

Red gave me an annoyed look, though Blue was watching with mild interest, then crossed his arms across his chest. "He's trying to cheer you up, numbskull," he stated, earning a glare from my trainer.

I looked at Blue, nodding and then looked at Red as he hesitated and looked at me with a guilty face but finally smiled, pinching my cheek gently. After successfully cheering him up again, he yawned, rubbing his eyes and Blue grinned. "You're just mad that I woke you up. Well, time to wake up 'cause if you sleep the entire time, then it's a definite for sure that I'll beat you."

My cheeks sparked again but they stopped as Red gave a scoff, the unusual sound even startling Blue, but he chuckled to himself, trying to relax as the plane made its descent. We hadn't even touched the ground yet and they were already challenging each other to a battle. I sighed at the two humans as I saw the imaginary sparks fly between the two, shaking my head at them. Well, like they always say, rivals will always be rivals.

X-X-X


	3. Chapter 3

_3_

_Pikachu_

Unova seemed like it was a bustling region, always on the move as lights flashed everywhere trying to attract customers, showing off brilliant designs alongside the roofs or sides of the buildings. Being on an airplane, we saw the city in its entirety with one awe-struck look. Sure, we'd been to big cities before such as Saffron City or even Vermillion City, but they didn't have the same designs as Unova did.

I looked up from the window and jumped onto Red's shoulder as the plane landed and a stewardess came to the front of our section, smiling as she looked at all of us. "All of you will be escorted out onto the tarmac by security, and lead through the airport into your taxis which will take you all to your hotel rooms. Seeing as we have stopped, would you please gather your things and we will make our way through the airport."

Everyone stretched as they stood, some groaning and a few bones cracked, just like Red's back and Blue's knees. "Oh, Arceus, it feels good to stand up," Blue mumbled, taking his suitcase while Red grabbed his backpack and I remained on his shoulder, eventually looking around with wonder as I saw all the different pokemon I had never seen in my life.

As we made our way through a blocked off part of the airport, on-lookers looked on in curiosity, most not recognizing any of us, which was good, but the few who did were amazed, shocked even, seeing all of Kanto's best walk off of the same airplane they were about to board. I looked around as soon as we were outside, I heard the taxis began to start their engines, prepared to take us to wherever we were going to go.

The cab we got in was the size of a mini-van that held Red with myself in his lap and of course Blue in the seat beside us while Sabrina, Blaine, Erika and Brock were in the farther back. Another mini-van was behind us, holding Lance, Giovanni, Lieutenant Surge, Janine and Misty. "You're all going to love the hotel, it's got a gorgeous fountain and delicious café, there's even a play area for your pokemon!" the driver said as he took us through twists and turns through the city. It was mostly a silent ride, most of us were tired from the flight and Erika especially seemed like she wanted to get to bed soon. It didn't take long to get from the airport to the hotel, maybe a whole five or six minutes until the car was turned off and the driver turned his head to smile at us. "Here we are, the Driftveil Chateau Hotel. Good luck to all of you in the tournament!"

Most of the humans gave him their thanks meanwhile Red and Sabrina nodded in acknowledgement. The hotel really was a _chateau_, the yard itself looked like a king's courtyard, complete with hedges trimmed in various different pokemon shapes, a large fountain in the center and two smaller ones at the edge of the yard. A stone brick path led the way from the street through a fancy set of white metal gates and towards a set of solid wood doors that would lead inside.

"_Oh wow…"_ I said to myself. I'd never seen anything like this before and with one glance, I could see Red and Blue gaping at the sight, also amazed.

The humans all climbed out quickly and behind us the second van had just parked with the others coming out as well. Red and I were ignoring Giovanni as much as we could, and I was pretty sure he was doing the same to us. "Welcome to Unova!" a man said in front of us. It was clear he worked at the hotel, he wore a butler's suit, though the tailcoat looked like it came from the early twentieth century. "My name is Wesley and I shall guide you to your rooms. Your belongings have already been delivered to them. Please, follow me!" He turned quickly and of course we followed. "Your pokemon are more than welcome to remain outside of their pokéballs, but please stay with them. Pokemon have been known to wander off and cause problems among other guests and staff."

Red pointedly looked at me and I couldn't help but to snicker for a few moments. There was one time when we first started our journey and it was just myself, Squirtle and Ivysaur when Red stayed at a pokemon center, he let us loose to have some fun and it ended up with Red doing lots of apologizing and brutal training within the hour.

I reverted my eyes back to the grand doors that opened for us, and the inside was just as grand as the inside: a bit of red carpet served as a road for the humans leading up to stairs that curved outwards from a fountain that had three carved faces spouting water from the mouths. There was a chandelier hanging directly above us, shimmering as we walked past it and up the curved stairs. Paintings lined our way in between the carved marble pillars and arches and the second floor wasn't nearly as tall, but the ceiling curved inwards like an egg, though the top was slightly flattened, with a hanging lamp in between the different rooms. At the end of each hall was a stained glass window, and a slightly thickened archway leading to the third floor. Kanto had taken the second floor, and I only guessed it was because, being a world tournament, the other five floors were reserved for the other regions.

Each of the humans had their own rooms, we were lucky to have ours at the far end of the hall next to Blue's room, though it was across the stairs that led up to the third floor. The room across from Blue's was empty, reserved for Red's mother for when she would arrive in the next couple of days. As Wesley left us with the keys and closed the door behind us, Red was staring ahead. The room was the size of a house, a king sized-bed was in the middle against the wall, with two nightstands on either side and the bed posts as well as headboard were made of dark stained wood, with at least five hundred pillows. There was a round table in the corner next to a full sized kitchen that could seat four people and on the left side of the room was a full size couch with a thick wooden coffee table with a vase full of yellow and white flowers and a large flat-screen television mounted onto the wall.

Two different doors got the best of Red's curiosity; one was next to the television, it holding a granite countered bathroom with a tub big enough to swim in, a shower beside it and a stainless steel double sink complete with white towels and a robe hanging from the door. The other door was a walk-in closet, where Red's suitcase lay. He shut the closet door and I jumped off obediently as he reached around and grabbed five other pokéballs, letting the others out. All of them were curious about the room as well, a couple beginning to explore, and Espeon tilted her head, putting her paws up onto the coffee table to reach up and sniff the flowers, ears twitching as she examined the room. Blastoise and Snorlax were content to simply relax while Charizard and Venusaur explored the dining room and kitchen.

"_So this is Unova? They sure do know how to treat their guests properly!"_ Espeon chirped happily to no one in particular, contently purring as she rest beside Red on the couch, was flipping through the channels on the television on the couch and using his other hand to scratch her head, to which her purring grew louder.

I nodded in agreement and looked up as Snorlax stretched. _"Plus I can actually stretch out without knocking anything over,"_ he added, with a loud, "Laaaax!" which earned a snort from Charizard.

I guess he could be considered the quiet, stoic type. He didn't speak much and when he did, it was usually when he wanted to be heard or whenever Espeon would use her psychic prowess. We were lucky we had someone like her, using her abilities, she was able to, what she called, link our minds together with Red's and we were able to hold conversations though it did tire her out quickly, so she used it only occasionally. Other than that, sometimes I wondered if Charizard would be Red in pokemon form since they spoke so very little. Sure I was his first pokemon, but I'm sure he and Red were closer than Red and I could ever be since their personalities were eerily similar. It was really annoying, now that I think about it. The T.V. turning off caught all of our attention and Red stood, looking at us as he snapped, meaning it was time for training. Good, I was starting to become bored with watching commercials.

He returned the others and together we made our way outside of the large room and into the hall within a short few minutes. Red stopped when he opened the door, and curious I looked up to see Blue standing there, grinning ear to ear, as if knowing what my trainer was up to. "Come on, Red, you can't just train the entire time! We have to go sight see at least a little bit!" he said and took his friend's wrist instead to pull him out. Red gave a quiet sigh but stopped to lock the door behind him. After putting the keys into his pocket, he followed Blue outside and we quickly had stumbled upon the southern end of the city. The hotel wasn't at all far from the arena, we could see it from our window, but up close it was absolutely _massive,_ even to human standards.

We headed inside to scope out the area and stared down at the field and then at the stands. It could easily fit hundreds, if not a thousand or more, people to watch the matches going on below. "This place is _huge_!" Blue said and his voice carried through the open and empty arena, beginning to smile again as Red gawked at the sight. It was certainly bigger than the Indigo Plateau was.

I was glad to see his excitement was rubbing off on Red again, who cracked a smile as well. It had been so long since we'd participated in any form of battle, much less a tournament of this scale, which I was pretty sure we'd never done before. My trainer looked at Blue as he turned to face him. "Just so you know, Red, the other regions will be against us. I say we research the other gym leaders and, more importantly, champions. I heard Sinnoh's champion is nothing to sneeze at. Oh, and that Unova has other champions that are participating just like Kanto. Unfair, though, they have, count it, _six_ champions participating. Six! I don't remember their names, but it won't hurt to research them a bit."

Red nodded and followed him out. We spent the day playing and exploring the city, watching the odd pokemon of the area stare at me as in return. I heard most of them say that they had never seen anything like myself before. The moment I spotted a park, I grabbed a hold of Red's ears and forced his head to turn in my direction with a loud, "Pikachu!"

Red gave a grunt of discomfort and sighed as he nodded at me. I eagerly jumped down and started bounding to it but paused, looking at him expectantly. "Pika! Pika, _pikachu_!"

It was no fun playing by yourself, of course.

Not even a heart beat later, I heard Blue mumbling something about spoiling pokemon, but nonetheless the two teams were playing at the pokemon park, the two trainers sitting beside each other watching us with amusement. Blue had changed his team again, this time being Alakazam, Arcanine, Gyarados, Jolteon, Machamp and Pidgeot, but I didn't mind; I played mostly with Jolteon anyway. Despite our rivalry, we all got along well enough with each other. With Machamp being the only fighting type, he and Snorlax got into an arm wrestle, one that caught the attention of our trainers. Immediately, I heard Blue betting that Machamp would win and saw Red's smirk.

In the end, Machamp won and an unhappy Red was forced to pay for dinner that night at a local sushi bar.

X-X-X

"So the tournament starts in four days, and we have nothing but time to kill, so I am going to go get some training done, while you do the same. I want my rival to be in tip-top shape!"

"Agh! You _aren't_ my rival, Ethan, and just because you beat me in a gym battle doesn't mean you can beat me in the champion rounds!"

It was only nine in the morning when it all began. The rest of the team and I were sleeping—very peacefully—until we were rudely woken up by a knock on the door, hearing Blue snap at Ethan to leave us alone to let us sleep. Red had given a long groan into the pillows, briefly looking at the alarm clock and his eyes narrowed dangerously at it the moment he'd spotted _8:46 A.M._ There were a few things that Red didn't enjoy, and that was being woken up before his alarm that was set for nine. Despite it being only fourteen minutes, fourteen minutes of lost sleep was still sleep he could have received. He had opened the door shortly after that, giving both Ethan and Blue a death glare, and his annoyance only increased when Ethan simply smiled at him with a delighted greeting.

Fast-forward those precious fourteen minutes.

Red and I just stared at the two bickering trainers in our room, myself sitting beside my trainer who had his arms crossed and had an extremely bored look on his face then yawned into his hand. When the Johto leaders finally arrived and upon learning Red and Blue were already there, Ethan had taken the room across the hall despite the objections of the gym leaders of Johto, who all took up residence in the third floor. I learned that Sinnoh and Hoenn would be arriving tomorrow, and lastly Unova leaders would arrive since most of them didn't need to travel far to get here.

Now, Ethan was an incredible trainer, even to my standards. Red and he met for the first time in a pokemon center near Cerulean City. Red had been recently crowned champion and was going after Zapdos, often using the centers that weren't busy to rent a room for a night or two if the media didn't catch up. Ethan was traveling to Cerulean to fight Misty for her badge. At the time, he hadn't known Red was the champion so he treated him like any other trainer until we had parted ways the following day.

We didn't have our first battle until after he had made his way up to Mount Silver, where we often stayed for weeks on end. The look on his face, I dare say, was priceless. With golden brown eyes as wide as saucers, he'd stuttered something along the lines of, _"I knew it! I knew you were the kid who beat team Rocket! I knew you were the champion, something was off about you! You're that kid from Route 9!"_ Promptly after that, we battled. The outcome was a close call, I had fainted after Typhlosion collapsed. Next thing I knew, we were in the pokemon center in Viridian City and Ethan was arguing with Blue just like he was now.

Ethan suddenly spun to Red, who blinked when he pointed a finger into his face but it was instantly replaced with narrowed eyes. "Red! Even though Johto is against Kanto, I'll beat Blue for you so that we can have a re-match!"

Blue scowled. "We haven't had a legitimate battle for ages, Ethan! Besides, I've already challenged him and you can't take that challenge away! You two fight all the time!"

The black-haired boy spun around again to face Blue. "Do not! We've only battled three times, one was a draw, once he won and once I almost won, so I want to put those numbers into my favor! Legit battle or not!"

"Meaning you still have three matches to go before you even need to think about beating him."

"Well, whatever!" He pointed at Blue's hair so fast, even Red slowly blinked at his antics but quickly dismissed it as he yawned a second time. "You can wait with your fancy spiky head of hair somewhere else!"

I could see a tick of anger forming on Blue's forehead as he crossed his arms across his chest. "'Fancy spiky head of hair?' What kind of insult is that? You can wait until after the tournament!"

"No, I can't!"

"Auuuugh!"

By now, Blue was pulling on his 'fancy' hair and Red gave a quiet groan, rubbing his hands over his face. We had planned on being in the library by now to research the other competitors but Ethan and Blue had invited themselves in after he opened the door, not even giving him a chance to wake up enough to get dressed into normal clothes and eat breakfast. Red looked at me and my cheeks sparked at the silent command.

"_Both of you need to shut up, I swear!"_ I cried, using Thunderbolt to shut the two bickering humans up. Even though they couldn't understand me, I'm sure they understood what I was trying to say.

"Red!" they shouted in unison. Red simply smiled and shrugged, getting up off the couch. He pointed at the door, giving the two humans a look that told them it was time to leave. "We have work to do, Ethan, so please just go hang out with your gym leaders," Blue said and Ethan groaned loudly as he left the room, followed by Blue.

"But they're so boring!"

"So?"

Ethan continued on, ignoring him. "Morty was pretending to curse the plane to scare Jasmine—" he suddenly flexed his arms "—Chuck was all, 'hey look at these awesome muscles!'" I couldn't help but think, _You have none, Ethan._ Red only blinked groggily, still trying to fight his sleepiness as Blue groaned. "Clair was doom and gloom the entire time 'cause Lance is gonna be there and they had some fight or something! Then Whitney was going on and on about her freaking Miltank and Bugsy was trying to convince Falkner that he was actually a boy and not a girl even though he already knows this and Pryce was just creepy chillin' in the back, literally!"

Blue scowled. "Not our problem. Leave us alone, Ethan. You'll get a legit fight some time later, kapeesh?" Ethan grumbled something under his breath and went outside to the back, presumably to train.

Red and I sighed in relief when we had made our way out the front door in the direction of the city library. Fresh air and no more bickering. "So. Ethan's here," Blue said through gritted teeth.

Red rolled his eyes at the blunt statement.

"Means it's going to be a tough fight." Now he was just stating the obvious. "Current and Past champions. Tch, should've known Ethan accepted the invite."

My trainer rose a brow at him, a look saying, _"Duh."_

"What? I haven't seen the kid in ages, but apparently you and he are buddy-buddy with each other."

Red made a face and shook his head promptly. I knew from experience, we were so _not_ friends with the yellow-loving weirdo!

"Wonder if Lyra did, too." He shrugged, rubbing his head and remained silent for a while. I think it was a similar thought between the three of us—it was nice to walk around without so many reporters trying to invade our individual bubbles and ask personal questions about every little thing. It was nice having the silence, it was something I missed back up from the mountain, there wasn't so much human interaction and no one constantly said something to us and expected an answer to stupid questions. Granted, it was nice sometimes, but with as much bickering and arguing there had been lately. I couldn't wait for the tournament to end so we could go back to Mount Silver.

Eventually the library came into view, and even though it was ten in the morning by now, we weren't the only ones who visited the place this early. We made our way to the computers on the second floor and Blue turned one on, taking the seat in front of it while Red remained standing beside him. He'd never been real good with computers, I've noticed. It took him long enough to use the storage system back home and had to have a random trainer teach him how to use it, much to his embarrassment.

Blue brought up a screen of various different champions in other regions and clicked on a random one. He pointed towards a blond woman and looked up at Red and I. "So this is the one I was telling you about. This is Cynthia, Sinnoh's first Champion. She uses a variety of pokemon like us, she's the first female champion plus she's been considered the most powerful trainer in the world. Says she won last year's tournament. 'Course, that was without us in the tournament, we'll see how it goes for her this year."

He exited the page and learned about many others that could possibly be attending this tournament though I didn't remember their names, I just yawned as the two researched their maybe-opponents and their most commonly used pokemon. After a bit, I noticed that a pair of siblings from Unova caught Red's eye as he stared at the page. They were only other two that were named after colors as well, and that seemed to catch Blue's interest as well and a list of their accomplishments were strikingly similar to our own. "Black and White huh? One's considered to be a hero and looks like they saved this region, too." He barked a laugh. "Guess their parents must've been crazy naming their kids after colors too."

I blinked, noticing a slight difference in Red's demeanor as he stared at the screen at the two smiling brunette trainers on the screen (I wondered if they were twins).I'm sure he was just studying them both but when I tilted my head and Red glanced at me, he shook his head as Blue went into the details section. "Well, they're both powerful trainers, often competing in double battles, and something called rotation battles. That sounds interesting. We should try it. I heard that White made champion right before Black, then defeated her in a quick match."

He clicked out of the screen and paused on the screen that showed all the different regions and champions. "This is going to be tough. I know I'd usually say you'd be able to wipe them all out, but they all have their own accomplishments and not to mention, Unova has six champions like I said before and there are two pairs of siblings. They are no pushovers in battle." He leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his hair. "Unova clearly has the upper hand by numbers, but with strategy, we'll be able to beat all of them, guaranteed."

Red listened and nodded. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was a little off about my trainer. Ever since they'd seen the picture of those two trainers, I had a feeling that this was going to be a lot harder than we had originally anticipated.

X-X-X

It was night time when Red let us all out and play in the park. I told the others of the strangeness of Red's attitude earlier today and even Charizard found it odd, even casting our trainer a brief look before shaking his head. _"Do you think he likes her?"_ I asked them.

Snorlax huffed. _"He will not fall because of a silly crush,"_ he said in a determined tone.

Venusaur tilted his head and curiously asked, _"A crush? Oh, who is it? It's about time, honestly. Don't humans normally date at this age anyway?"_

"_Why are you so interested about it?"_ Espeon said. She flicked her tail and curled it around herself as she sat beside Blastoise.

_"It's not like they've met before."_

_"I'm interested _'c_ause even I haven't seen him have a crush before, and I've known him for five years,"_ I replied, and we all looked at Red, who had his ear buds on and staring at a pokégear before blinking, turning his eyes away from the little screen to look back at us with confusion. We all quickly looked away. _"See! He's daydreaming about her!"_

"_Are you sure he's just not listening to his music again?"_ Blastoise mused, though I ignored him.

"_But who is it? Is it another trainer? Someone back home? Who?"_ Espeon demanded, seeming more interested in it than I was.

I made a face at her as she stared innocently back at me. "_I thought you didn't care."_

_"I changed my mind."_

I rolled my eyes. _"I don't__ know but we were at the library earlier today and looked up the trainers that'll be competing too, and we saw a pair from Unova and he kinda stared at a girl."_

Charizard stared at me, then snorted once. _"Then it is another champion,"_ he grumbled.

I nodded. _"Blue said her name was White, and her brother is Black."_

Red came over to us, clearly wanting to know what it was we were doing in a circle and plopped himself between Charizard and Snorlax, staring at us with amusement. For a moment, we were silent, thinking he could somehow understand us, but quickly we pushed the silly thought away. _"But what if we have to fight his crush, wouldn't he want to go easy on her?" _Blastoise asked in worry.

_"Don't worry! He__ won't go easy on her, he isn't like that," _Espeon replied, shaking her head and made her way towards our trainer, sitting in front of him before finally bumping her head against his hand for attention. Obediently, Red scratched her ears and continued to study the rest of us, as if that would help him get into our heads to understand what we were talking about.

"_But what if Red does! It'll be distracting and she'll beat us 'cause he'll be distracted by the silly crush!"_ Venusaur exclaimed.

I groaned. "Pika!" _"He won't! Arceus, he's not stupid and he won't let emotions blind him from the fact that we have a tournament ahead of us and we have to prove that we are still the strongest in the world!"_ But I was silenced along with the rest of us by Espeon's mischievously glowing eyes and Red's rare laugh. _"Espeon!" _I shouted.

_Do you all honestly think that I have a crush on White?_

The thought came to us unexpectedly and each of us flinched, except Espeon as she transmitted our thoughts to him and his to ours. It wasn't the first time she had done this, in fact it was often that we got to speak with each other like this. Their mixed feelings must've hit him, because he looked at us with a somber face, watching each of us with his red eyes.

_Pikachu is right. We will remain the strongest and to clarify, I most certainly do not have a crush on someone I've never met. Even if I did, I wouldn't let that get in our way. This is going to be tough and I need you all to stop worrying about me and get to training tomorrow morning. Let's get back to the room and get some sleep._

With that, he removed his hand from Espeon's head and her eyes stopped glowing and she sighed softly in relief.

We looked at each other again and Espeon stretched as she followed Red. Charizard was close behind, walking on all fours. I bounded up onto Red's shoulder quickly. Once we had made it into the room, Red handed us our dinner and each of us dug in eagerly while he made his way to the couch with his own dinner. Curious, I managed to grab a hold of my own bowl and dragged it to eat beside my trainer as he turned on the television. The show he turned on was an anime and he seemed completely engrossed by the show, not even noticing Blastoise opening the door for Ethan, who thanked Blastoise and bounded up to the couch and sat beside Red.

Red jumped, causing the other trainer to laugh with Typhlosion. I looked over, seeing Ethan's entire team out as well, Togetic floating right above his head and Ampharos sitting on the other side of the couch nearest Red, smiling up at us all with a happy wave. Ursaring and Scizor were behind the couch and Sudowoodo closed the door behind him.

"Never thought I'd be able to sneak up on you," he said and Red glared but relaxed again, leaning against the couch, asking silently what he was doing in here. Ethan instantly understood, grinning. "I got bored, so here I am watching anime with you. This is an older episode, but if you've never seen it, you are in luck." Red shook his head, indicating he'd never seen the entire show before. Ethan reached into his jacket and pulled out a few discs. "Lucky you, I brought the entire season with me for instances like this. If you want to that is."

The rest of the night was spent watching the gruesome anime, pokemon and humans alike. So much for going to sleep tonight.

X-X-X


	4. Chapter 4

_4_

_Pikachu_

I'm not really sure that I wanted to wake up the morning of the third day, but I decided that I might as well get up before the sun rose any higher. Ethan had left some time in the night with his blu-ray discs and Red had gone to bed shortly after. I think it could have been near five in the morning when they had decided to call it quits since I myself had slept through most of their television marathon. I uncurled myself from my comfortable, warm position and looked up and around, blinking the sleep out of my eyes. The others were just starting to wake up while Red remained fast asleep, the suffocating blanket wrapped tight around him. There was a lock of his raven hair sticking out from underneath and even though it was difficult to see, I noticed he was still breathing fine with the steady movement from his chest.

I yawned and let him be, jumping off of the bed and stretched. Espeon was cleaning herself while Snorlax was uncharacteristically wide awake already, though he had found some of the pokemon food stashed in the kitchen and had helped himself to breakfast… or lunch, I wasn't sure what time it was. "_It's nearly eleven, perhaps we should wake Red and go train,"_ Venusaur said as he sat in the light coming from the window. The flower on his back seemed to glow a bit as it absorbed the nutrients though he made no move to wake our sleeping trainer.

I paused in my steps; was he psychic now? _"Oh, it's already that late?"_ I asked and received a single nod.

Charizard walked on all fours towards the bed, at first nudging the dead asleep human with a claw and snorted in annoyance when Red didn't stir. _"You can't expect him to wake up with just a little poke. You have to scare him awake or force him to wake up via Espeon," _Blastoise noted, amusement in his eyes. _"Shouldn't you know this by now?"_

The fire type rolled his eyes again and looked at Red before taking in a breath and roared as loud as he could. For such a quiet pokemon, he sure had a set of lungs.

Red's eyes shot open and he jumped at least a foot in the air and I couldn't help it; I laughed my little ass off as he shot a death glare at us all, while Charizard smirked as he sat down on his haunches, waiting for him to actually get up. The human gave an audible groan before finally sitting up, struggling to untangle himself from the blanket and blinked several times to try and help wake himself up. I swore I could _hear_ him thinking about putting us back into our pokéballs in order to get back to sleep, though with one look towards the window, he seemed to finally grasp the fact that it was definitely time to get up.

As he continued his tired routine of trying to get up, my ears flicked back and forth, hearing many footsteps and a few laughs here and there as humans walked down the hall. Well, I guess the other gym leaders and champions from Hoenn or Sinnoh were finally here. The others heard them as well, various steps and stomps leading up to the fourth or fifth floor. _"The fifth. One group already came and left,"_ Espeon informed me. Well, that answers that easily enough. It was handy having a morning pokemon on the team sometimes.

Knowing that the other competitors were finally here, I was growing excited, sensing that this tournament would be a challenge even for us. No more weak trainers or crybabies! Seriously, one time I knocked out a kid's Tauros with one Thunderbolt and after it fainted, the kid cried about how we were cheating and ran away. Red actually laughed that time at the pathetic attitude of the new generation of trainers.

Speaking of, Red yawned one last time as he finally swung his legs over the bed and pulled his clothes, shoes and hat on. As he pulled his belt on, he clipped each of our pokéballs to it, also returning the others as I climbed up onto his shoulder. Arceus knows I hate that thing and I avoid it if I could but at least I can tolerate it. We both heard the footsteps going coming from the stairs on the floor above after the other footsteps had long disappeared and while Red ignored them, I listened intently, curious as he opened the door.

Wesley was coming down the stairs and smiled kindly at us. "Ah, young champion. I have a message for you. It is for all champions prior and current to meet at the stadium at precisely eleven today. I do suggest you hurry and make your way there, there is only thirty minutes before it starts. The tournament officials have information to give to all of you before the tournament begins." Red nodded and locked the door as Wesley left us alone in the hall. That would've been nice to know, say, at the beginning of this trip. I tilted my head in thought. Maybe someone had mentioned something about it, but Arceus knows how big of an attention span I have.

He looked at me and I gave him a nod. It was a short walk to the stadium and despite being almost late, he walked calmly towards the overly large building. When we got nearer, I could sense his impending nervousness at the sight of a large crowd surrounding the entrance to said stadium. He glanced up at me and I knew exactly what to do: find a way around the crowds and find a safe way inside. Once I was on the top of his head, I could see there weren't just Unovian people down there: I spotted the distinct style of Kanto and Johto, though they were few and scattered amongst the rest of the people. No doubt, they would scream the loudest at the sight of us.

I scanned the area briefly and pointed. _"Over there, Red!" _I said to him. There was an opening towards the corner of the building in the back, which was sealed off by weird blue and red pokemon wearing karate gi and human guards from the crowds. I jumped off of his head and led the way quickly around the throngs of people surrounding the building, dashing here and there while Red followed quickly, hurrying before someone recognized us. We'd gone unnoticed so far as the building neared and a guard immediately spotted us and let us through before we could be trampled by 'adoring' fans when they realized who was zipping in and out.

"Through that door, sir. Meeting starts in five minutes," the nearest guard said over the delighted screams and Red briefly nodded, going through said metal door.

Blue was walking through the hall looking annoyed but when we finally arrived loudly groaned and threw his hands in a dramatic way to the sides. "Took you long enough. I was about to go to the hotel to get you. What were you doing all morning? Sleeping? Come on, Sleeping Snorlax," he scolded and Red said nothing, following Blue through the bright silver halls. I jumped back up onto Red's shoulder as Blue added, "Most of us have already introduced ourselves, and I hear we'll each have to enter the tournament separately. Makes sense. Adds more flair to a show."

Red rolled his eyes and I gave him a pat on his shoulder, pointing through a window in the hall. Up higher, the stadium looked smaller, but still huge in size though Red didn't stop to gawk since apparently we were nearly late for a meeting we had no knowledge of. He did glance and I recognized that earlier childhood excitement in his eyes though he did nothing else to show it as we neared a door.

"Anyway, there are some powerful looking people here and even you may have a run for your money. Lots of champions, and as Wesley said, current and prior champions are here. Most of them, at least. Lyra isn't here, Ethan said that her mom was sent to the hospital so she's with her to help take care of her instead." That's too bad, Lyra put up just as much of a fight as Ethan did. I was sort of looking forward to fighting Meganium again but oh well, things happen.

I looked up at the doors that swung open to the stands and arena. The trainers were all sitting with each other, laughing and chatting among themselves and my ears twitched with every laugh, hearing all the care-free or strained sounds. "Look who finally decided to show up," Ethan called, grinning as he waved. He abandoned his spot next to Lance to sit beside Red and Blue took a spot on the other side of us.

"Weren't you just sitting with Lance?" Blue asked, annoyed.

"Yeah, but Lance is boring and too mature. Besides, all he talks about are dragon type pokemon and honor and what type of cape he should get next. Why does he wear capes? Doesn't it get hot in summer? Besides, I can sit with you guys here in the back and look at the other champs here! Some of the ladies are pretty, you know, hot."

Blue groaned loudly while Red and I ignored them, our focus on an older man in a black suit that came in the front of the stands.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for coming today on such short notice, all of you! Now, I do understand some of us aren't here today, but let us get started!" He pulled out a piece of paper, as well as adjust his glasses. "The tournament will begin on Monday, two days from now. However, the champions will not battle each other until Wednesday. Monday is the finals and will be for trainers aspiring to win a grand prize of five thousand pokedollars, as well as a chance to battle a champion of their choice. That could mean any of you.

"Tuesday the gym leaders will battle and they will be randomly put against each other. We need you all to be here at nine-thirty. As for Wednesday, you must all be here by eight sharp, the first match will start at nine. As with the gym leaders, you will be randomly chosen to battle each other. The victor will then move onto the next round. The winner will receive the World Champion title, and last year Cynthia earned that title." Cynthia gave a short nod, though he looked around at all of us and opened his mouth to start talking again.

I started tuning him out as he explained on where to go and what to do for introductions on Monday to the competing trainers, and I think Red did too since he started rubbing my cheeks. By the time he started playing with my ears, Blue noticed and nudged Red hard in the side with his elbow. "Pay attention, Red!" he hissed in his ear and Red shot him a bored look before looking at me apologetically and looking at the old man again.

I decided not to pay attention as I studied the different champions. I recognized a few of them, the one with the long blond hair and black clothes was Cynthia, and the equally distinguishable Alder sat beside her. A couple I had no clue who they were, like a boy with a red visor on was beside a girl with extremely long pigtails, and a young man with silver hair had his full attention on the one talking.

There was one other trainer, however, that sat next to a boy with a black hat and messy brown hair that I recognized immediately from the picture on the internet: White.

She looked just as equally bored as my trainer, almost struggling not to fall asleep but the boy next to her, who looked eerily similar to her, was just like Blue and nudged her to keep her awake and paying attention. I had to assume that this was her brother, Black.

As the man finally finished talking and left, there was a collective sigh of relief amongst the trainers. Ethan shot up instantly and stretched with a groan. "Well that was boring, anyway the most important thing now is lunch. So what are you two up to? We should all go together and find an awesome burger joint."

Blue tapped his chin. "That actually doesn't sound bad. You want to go, Red?" My trainer nodded once and my stomach confirmed it. "Now the hard part is where to find one. I've only eaten at the hotel."

Ethan shrugged. "We just have to explore and see what this city has to offer. Maybe we can ask someone who's been here before where a good place is."

As if he had super hearing, Alder approached us with a kind smile and wave. "A good burger joint? I know just the place! In fact, some of us are going there now, care to join us?" he asked cheerfully. "It isn't too far from here and they're fairly priced."

"Then be our guest and lead the way!"

Blue groaned again as Ethan bounded over to Alder joyfully. He was acting like he'd never been fed before, though he was still younger than Red and Blue by two or three years. As Alder laughed, I knew Ethan and he would get along just fine. Their cheerful dispositions were really starting to annoy me.

Alder led the way, chatting merrily away with Ethan, who asked a million and a half questions to the patient veteran trainer while Blue followed silently with Red and I. I was grateful for the brief silences as Alder thought about each answer, careful with his words but enthusiastic about everything that he spoke of. We neared the central city and neared the long strip of various different restaurants; the hundreds of different smells—good and bad—hit me at once and my mouth drooled as distinct barbecue smell filled the air.

Alder kept walking as Ethan looked around with the curiosity of a Meowth and Blue had to keep him from running into a wall and Red yanked him closer to avoid falling into a ditch, though the third Blue laughed at the trainer as his face smashed into a metal light pole. I laughed hard for the second time that day—even Red smiled as Blue snickered at Ethan's whining.

We eventually came upon a small place called Straiton Delights, and a strange dog pokemon barked in greeting. _"Welcome back, Alder!"_ he said cheerfully, his tail wagging as Alder bent down to scratch his head.

"Well, hello, Herdier! Where are Cilan, Cress or Chili?"

Herdier gave a bark, leading the way inside. Alder walked inside while the rest of us followed eagerly towards the scent of the barbecuing ribs. The inside was fancy, not as fancy as our hotel, but the modern hanging lights illuminated the many tables and benches. "Alder! Long time, no see!" A man with bright, flaming red hair approached him and smiled in greeting, shaking hands with the champion. "The others are already here. Right in the back," he said and glanced at the rest of us. "My name is Chili. I'm one of the gym leaders in Straiton City."

Blue looked confused. "One of them?" Ethan asked.

He nodded. "Yep. Depending on which starter the trainer received from Professor Juniper, they battle myself if they chose Snivy, Cress if they chose Tepig or Cilan if they chose Oshawott."

"That sounds kind of… odd. But it sounds like fun," Ethan said and nodded in approval.

"Odd or not, it's how we run our gym." He then led the way to a table that already held six people, though Chili had no problems dragging another beside them. "Alder and three others have come to join you," he told them bluntly and they all looked up, smiling at Alder but looked with confusion at us.

To be honest, it was quite nice to see that these trainers had no idea who we were.

Alder sat down and Ethan sat beside him though Red and I sat at the end of the table, ensuring we didn't have to sit next to anyone we didn't know. "Hi! My name's Rosa!" the girl with the overly large pigtails exclaimed. "This is my brother, Nate!"

The boy with the messy hair and visor waved with a smile, his other hand holding a cup of soda.

"Technically my name is Hilbert, but you can call me Black," said the other brown-haired boy with a black hat on.

"My real name is Hilda. Hate that name, so call me White instead, kapeesh?" said the ponyta-tail girl. White looked at us with mild curiosity, but she smiled anyway.

"And last but not least, it's me! I'm Iris, dragon master in training!" the girl with the extremely thick, long hair declared. "All of us are from Unova, and now that we've introduced ourselves, what are your names and where are you from?" Oh Arceus, it's a female version of Ethan.

Ethan grinned, instantly excited. "My name's Ethan, from Johto," he replied immediately and his voice full of pride.

"Oh! I've heard of you! You're really powerful, right?" Iris exclaimed. "I want to battle you!"

"Sorry, I got—"

Blue sighed and interrupted with his own greeting. "I'm Blue, and this is Red and Pikachu. Both of us are from Pallet Town," he said in a matter-of-fact tone and I added a quick, _"Pikachu!"_

I think the table still for a few seconds, and I sensed wonder all around the table. I guess they did know who we were, even if they didn't know our face. "Everyone's heard of you two but I thought we'd never get a chance to actually meet the two youngest people to ever earn the champion title!" Nate exclaimed, his sister's eyes wide with barely controlled excitement.

"I know, right!" Rosa exclaimed suddenly.

"But aren't you two rivals? You look like you're best friends," Iris asked curiously, looking between Red and Blue.

Black and White exchanged a look as if something passed through their minds simultaneously but they said nothing.

"Well, your rival can be anyone, my rival, Silver, isn't really my best friend, I'd call him an acquaintance at best," Ethan answered, tapping his chin in thought.

"In reality, we were friends when we were younger then when we started our journey, we really did hate each other," Blue said as he looked at the menu in front of him. He had explained this to several different people before, so I'm pretty sure he was bored of answering the same question over and over again.

Red confirmed it with a single, silent nod.

He looked up from the menu towards the others and jabbed a thumb in Red's direction, who blinked. "But after this stupid ass went to Mount Silver to train for nearly five years, someone had to go up to the mountain to make sure he was still alive and kicking."

"Isn't that the most dangerous mountain in the world?" Alder asked, a flash of concern on his face. I nearly laughed at him and spotted the smirk Red was hiding behind the menu he was reading. It should be, but we all learned how to survive in the harsh environment.

Blue nodded and Ethan shuddered. "I go up there sometimes to battle him but every time it's hard. I don't know how, but he lives up there with a t-shirt and a vest with sneakers and calls it good," the Johto trainer added.

Red rolled his eyes at all the attention, pointedly trying to keep his eyes on the pictures on the menu. _"Pikachu,"_ I said to alert him and pointed at one of the pictures showing a platter of fried Magikarp, I think. It looked amazing and I was starving. He gave a nod and set me into his lap to rub my cheeks again. He only does that if he's bored and I was happy to see he wasn't interested in any of these champions, especially White.

"Hey, Red, is it true you took down Team Rocket at their base?" Rosa asked and Red nodded once.

"When you were ten?" Another nod.

"Do you ever talk?"

Blue chuckled. "No, not really. He'll talk if he has something to say, but he gets bored easily," he informed them, just as a man with green hair came over to us calmly.

"Are we all ready to order?" he asked politely, a green monkey-like pokemon sitting on his shoulder with his own bowtie and apron on.

"_What do you suggest, monkey face?"_ I asked, earning an annoyed look from the green pokemon. I smirked but winced when I felt a sharp pinch on my cheek. Snorlax told me that Red knew when I would cause trouble and was always quick to stop any mischievousness. I'd reply that he just knows how to ruin my fun.

X-X-X

The entire lunch thing was kind of boring and I was ready to go train somewhere away from happy-go-lucky humans. Ethan and Blue had gotten into another argument as Iris laughed about it, White and Nate rolled their eyes and Rosa tried to stop them from arguing while Red and Black completely ignored them in favor of their food. After it was over, most of us went our separate ways, Rosa, Nate and Black left to wander somewhere in the city, Iris and Alder went to go train with each other while Blue and Ethan walked off arguing back towards the hotel. Red was in favor to wander around the beach to find a private place to train.

We both heard the running steps after us and Red turned his head immediately, pausing when he saw White running towards them. "You looked kinda lost and I know you don't like to talk, but if you want, I can show you where I train," she offered. He frowned a little at her and she smiled instead. "I know that look and walk when someone wants to be alone. Trust me, I do it to Black often enough. Come on, I'll show you and then I'll leave you alone. Deal?"

She started walking and Red hesitated before glancing at me. I shrugged at him, leaving the choice up to him before he hesitantly followed her through the busy streets of the city. We walked for a good ten minutes before White stopped and looked up at Red. "We're almost there. Through here, there is a tunnel leads to the beach and I hardly ever see anyone there, so that's why I come here." In front of us was a large wall of moss on the ground and a pair of large rocks that looked difficult to squeeze through but with the moss, it was easy to slip inside.

White paused when we reached the short tunnel that led down to the sandy white beach. I grew excited and suddenly wanted to play in the sand instead of train. "The tide comes up quickly though, and it'll fill the tunnel shortly before dinner time so I suggest when it's five or six at the latest, come on out. In the morning, the water should be down again and there'll be fresh moss to help you squeeze through." She gave us a smile and true to her word, she opened a pokéball to release a strange bird that took her shoulders with a loud, _"Mandi!" _then flew off.

Red glanced at me as I jumped off of his shoulder and landed in the sand. _"Chu! Chu, pika!"_ I exclaimed. I wanted him to understand that I wanted to play before we trained. He gave a sigh and nodded, grabbing the other five pokéballs and released the others. _"Look! Red said we can play before we train!"_

Charizard snorted at the moist air though Blastoise looked like he would have the time of his life, wading out into the water while Snorlax was content to just sit on the beach and let the sun warm his fur. Red sat beside him and watched Espeon run back and forth with the waves like I did as Venusaur opened the flower on his back to absorb the light again.

Eventually, we were all in the water, though Charizard had opted to go flying with Red. I glanced upwards at the sky; I could see the small orange dot in the sky circling the beach and practicing various fire- and flying-type moves. _"Do you want to start training now too?"_ Venusaur asked us, wading out of the water followed by Espeon as she quickly shook her fur to get the water out.

I nodded and followed suit while Blastoise and Snorlax were the last ones out. I could hear Venusaur and Snorlax having a mock battle with each other shortly, though Espeon was doing her best to use her psychic abilities to lift a very large boulder that was stuck in the sand underwater. She gritted her teeth before pushing more and finally there was a slight _shwoop _sound as the water quickly filled the empty area and the boulder was lifted out of the water. She then put it on the dry beach, where I charged a Volt Tackle and let it shatter.

Charizard and Red landed shortly after, though he was here to return the others and let me jump onto Charizard's neck. The tide was indeed rising and just as White had said, quickly too. Whatever training he and Red had done, I could tell he was tired since they had been up in the air the entire afternoon. On top of that, Red was still young by human standards and he was still growing, and he wasn't as light or short as he used to be when he was ten. He was lucky that Charizard was rather large for his species, six foot five last I heard, and could still carry him for such a long time.

We flew back to the hotel and after Charizard was recalled, Blue was walking out of the front doors. "Oh, hey, Red. Where were you all day? You smell like salt," he said bluntly as Red nodded. "Oh. At the beach? Isn't that place full of people though? You weren't swarmed by paparazzi?" Red shook his head with a smile, waving as he went inside. "Whatever," I heard Blue mumble. "By the way, White asked me and Ethan lots of questions about you. Personal questions. I think you caught someone's eye." He grinned as I saw Red's face turn a light shade of pink then shook his head quickly and he turned away, going upstairs hurriedly. I heard the other trainer laugh as he walked off into the city.

At least Red seemed to be determined not to return the feeling, though I blinked as I followed him through the hall to our room. He was rushing for some reason, and he never rushed anything. _"Pika?"_ I wondered and he shook his head as he opened the door and let me in before closing and locking the door. He sighed quietly as he took off his hat and ran a hand through his raven black hair. He set his hat, jacket and shoes near a chair and wandered off into the restroom, leaving me to open the pokéballs for the others. _"White's asking questions about Red,"_ I told the others and Charizard blinked once, though Espeon tilted her head.

"_Why? She would only do that if she was interested or wanted to battle right?"_ she asked.

I shrugged. _"Blue said she was asking he and Ethan personal questions about him."_

She grinned, excited. _"Ooh! It's adorable!"_

"_It is not adorable!"_

"_Haven't we already had this argument?"_ Snorlax wondered out loud, scratching his belly.

I shot a glare at him but looked at Espeon instead as she giggled and licked her paws to wash her face. _"Oh come on, it's not like he likes her back. She was the one asking questions, was she not? Maybe it would be good for him to look into the dating scene. It would help him open up to other humans."_

"_There is a perfectly good reason why he doesn't trust other humans,"_ Charizard replied dryly.

"_That was a long time ago, though. These people are nice and friendly. Why not make a few friends? It won't hurt,"_ Blastoise suggested.

I sighed. Blastoise and Espeon both had their points. Red really did need more friends other than Blue and Ethan, and he only really talked more around Blue rather than Ethan. Of course, he talked the absolute most around his mother and it would be good for him to open up even the slightest bit to have connections with other people. However, Charizard also had a valid point as well. What happened with Team Rocket, he would never be able to forget about and alongside that, the trust he'd lost with other people was so low, even I knew he'd avoid making new friends even if his life depended on it.

"_In any case, he's gotten much better about his social behavior. So if they really do start really liking each other, shouldn't that be a good thing?"_ Venusaur asked curiously.

"_Only if it happens after the tournament. We can't have either of them distracted, I'm sure her own pokemon agree," _Espeon replied calmly.

The rest of us couldn't argue with that. I didn't completely agree, I didn't know if it was a good idea to have Red even think about dating at a time like this—the tournament was important!

The water stopped running and a few moments later, Red stepped out in clean clothes, tossing the dirty ones to the side as he blinked at us, silently asking what we were all up to. Espeon walked over to him as he sat down on the bed facing us and her eyes glowed a bit to communicate our decision. _"We've decided that you're allowed to like White, but you aren't allowed to date her until after the tournament,"_ she informed him and he stared before there were a few scattered nods while I just shrugged.

He was silent before he burst out laughing, causing confusion in the rest of us. Why were humans so confusing?! _"Don't you like her? You were blushing when Blue told you about what happened!" _I exclaimed, frustrated.

"_I didn't know he blushed! You blushed?!"_ Espeon suddenly shouted, growing excited all over again and looked up at Red expectantly. _"Do you really like her or was it just because she likes you? Aww, I think it's sweet!"_

Leave it to women to find anything cute like that 'sweet' and cause our trainer to blush all over again and make Venusaur chuckle softly.

Red finally sighed and shook his head. _Let's not talk about this right now. My mom is going to be here any time soon, and I don't need her to act like you,_ he told Espeon, who snickered. He got up to head to the dresser and pull out a pair of socks.

"_Yes, well, your mom's going tell you to clean your room,"_ Blastoise added, nodding towards the pile of dirty clothes and dishes in the sink. Red only shrugged, coming back to the bed and pull the socks on.

I stood in front of him, crossing my arms across my chest. _"You promise not to date until after the tournament?"_

He blinked and smiled. _I intend not to date White or anyone else if that's what you mean._

"_Then you can be friends. Again, you're allowed to like her, but not date her until after. Promise?"_ I repeated, watching him.

_Fine, fine, I promise. You're all so pushy about this. You're _all_ acting like my mom now._

"_Then if I'm your mother, then you should clean up your mess. I've seen much cleaner living areas than your own,"_ Blastoise replied.

Red smiled and I rolled my eyes at him. Blastoise was always a stickler for cleanliness while Red, being a teenaged human boy, didn't really care. A few dishes and clothes on the floor wasn't that big of a deal, and it was always funny to see Blastoise force Red to clean up after himself in the cave we stayed in up on the mountain.

_Day after tomorrow, trainers will be finishing a tournament of their own. They're allowed to choose a champion to fight, for no title should they win, but if they pick us, I want you to be ready,_ Red told us, looking up at the team seriously. _There's no telling how strong these trainers are. There could be someone out there as strong as us._

With that, Espeon cut off the connection and glanced at the rest of us. I was hoping that there would be someone as strong as us down there. But even if they chose another champion to fight, and there was a plethora of them, we would still need to train. It would come as no surprise to me if Cynthia would fight to the top, she had won the previous tournament after all, or even if Ethan or Blue would. I felt like a psychic-type pokemon now. I could see a few days full of difficult training in our future.

X-X-X


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Before you read this chapter, even though this takes place in the game world, pokemon can know more than just four moves. I find it silly that they can just forget moves they've already learned. Also, thank you QUEENSPELLER67 for pointing out Mandibuzz was an all-female species, I kinda forgot :P

* * *

_5_

_Pikachu_

Red's mother has always been a kind, gentle soul so when she was introduced to Ethan on our way to the hotel the following day, naturally she was all smiles and even offered to make him chocolate chip cookies if he should ever visit Pallet Town. Red, naturally, was annoyed by this and whilst I was delighted when the Johto champion walked off elsewhere for dinner. Red's mother chuckled at her son's behavior, noticing the irritated look on his face. "Oh, come on, he isn't a bad kid, Red. The way he acted, it was like he was your best friend!" she said, smiling.

He rolled his eyes again, causing her to erupt in laughter. "By the way, how is Blue? Daisy says she is staying in Pallet Town and that she will watch the tournament on television—what?"

He looked a bit startled and uneasily set one of her suitcases onto the table to help her unpack. I knew why he was nervous, we had only been on television during our fights against the elite four and championship match.

"You didn't think this giant event wouldn't be on T.V.? All the champions duking it out against each other? Especially with you in the tournament?" Red rolled his eyes at her choice of words. "No one would want to miss that! Besides, this thing has been on T.V. for the past few weeks since the preliminaries! Some of them even reminded me of you when you first started. Pikachu didn't listen to you at all!"

Fond memories indeed. Most mornings included me using Thundershock to wake the lazy boy up, or deciding to scratch my ears instead of attacking like he'd wanted. The first time I'd met his mother, I instantly decided I liked her when she bothered him about taking a bath and changing his underwear. It was also the first time I'd ever heard him speak so freely, arguing _verbally_ with someone over something so small and giving genuine smiles to other humans.

This time was no different, though he didn't start speaking until we were clear in her hotel room. Wesley had originally planned for her to stay in the room Ethan had stolen, so instead she was a floor above us and as Red helped her unpack, she giggled as she watched him make a face as he opened one of her two suitcases and it just so happened her under garments were in said suitcase. Instantly he closed the case and casually, she asked, "What? A lady needs to have some form of support—"

"Mom," Red simply replied, giving her a hard, albeit embarrassed, look.

"Stop being a big baby and just give that to me then if you're too scared to look at Mom's underwear."

She suddenly giggled again, and I knew it was story time as she flashed a mischievous grin towards her son. Despite Red being a bit taller than his mother, one could easily tell they were related, if not by the same hair color and skin tone; they had that same grin whenever they were up to no good. As she put her undergarments into a drawer she said, "I remember when you were maybe three or four, you went through my entire dresser drawer and put a bra on your head, had your underpants outside your jeans, tied your blankie around your neck and called yourself 'Machoke Man.'"

"Mom!"

She didn't stop there. "You would run around the house for hours, pretending you could fly and do all sorts of things! Then you would try to get into my make-up, saying that superheroes needed masks to hide their identities. Your favorite line was, _'Evil-doers beware: Machoke Man is here!'_ It never rhymed, but you didn't care. You were so young, so full of energy and the world was wide open to you."

Agitated, Red's face was pink as he said sharply, _"Mom!"_

I was laughing hard, holding my sides. I'd have to tell the others later tonight about what he had done when he was younger. I hoped his mother had other embarrassing stories to tell, these were good. Hearing bits and pieces of Red's past was rare, we only got to hear about it from either Blue or Red's mother, he never really talked about it. Espeon asked him once, though he claimed it was boring and simple. Boring and simple as it may be, everyone had their childhood adventures that needed to be told by mom on occasion.

She smiled and closed the drawer when she finished putting her clothes away with a long, drawn-out sigh. I stopped laughing, confused at her sudden mood change and as she sat down, I hopped up onto the bed beside her, sniffing her arm in curiosity. She looked somber, age suddenly beginning to show on her face as she looked at Red. _"What's wrong?"_ I wondered out loud. She scratched my head, subconsciously like Red did but I could tell she seemed bothered by something.

Red was also concerned, a questioning look coming to his face.

"You aren't so young and naïve now. It makes me sad that I can't protect you anymore. But it makes me proud of you. All that you've accomplished is indeed a large feat at such a young age. You were barely ten when you took down that awful, _awful_ Team Rocket." She paused and looked up when Red went to her and sat down on the other side of her. She looked out the window, watching gentle white clouds roll by. "I never thought my own child would become the champion, much less take down a criminal organization. And quite honestly, I didn't think you could do it at first. Then I heard of you fighting Team Rocket at Celadon City, then in the Silph Co. building in Saffron… that is something no one, especially a child, should have endured in the first place."

He hesitated, looking at me and then back to his mother. "If you had the power and the will to do something to help others, wouldn't you do that something?"

She paused and looked at him, blinking at his words.

He took a breath, looking outside as I climbed into his lap. With his right hand, he started petting me, and I gave a soft, almost purring like Espeon did as he scratched my cheeks gently. "We saw things we shouldn't have and sometimes I still get nightmares about them. We also did things we shouldn't have done. I was scared a few times, terrified even, and other times I thought I would really die." A flash of concern swept over her own face, taking his left hand. "But if we had done absolutely _nothing_ against Team Rocket, then I would carry that regret for the rest of my life." He smiled at her. "I wouldn't trade anything in the world to change the past. It brought me and my pokemon closer together, and that is well worth all the sacrifices we made."

She smiled at him, nodding. "Oh… Yes, I guess you are right." She chuckled quietly to herself, shaking her head. "You are very wise for your age, Red. It's like you're a worn-out old man stuck in a spry teenager's body." He flashed a playful glare and she hugged him. "I love you, Red, and I am proud to call you my son, even if you had done nothing."

He smiled and hugged her back while I grinned up at them. "Pika pi!"

X-X-X

I don't know what woke us up in the middle of the night, but none of us were happy when Red's pokegear went off. It was pitch black outside and I saw that the alarm clock on the bedside table read _3:48 _am. Who in the hell was calling at 3:48 in the Arceus forsaken morning? Ethan had come by at around eight last night and they finished their anime a little after midnight, when it was decided they had to get to sleep. Ethan said something about having to get up at a stupid hour tomorrow morning for the introductions.

We had no intentions of getting woken up at 3:48. I _clearly_ remember the alarm Red set was for 7:30.

Our human groaned and tossed in his sheets before finally, with eyes still closed, tried—twice—to turn it off and miserably failed. Espeon was the one who turned it off for him and his arm went slack instantly, flopping down onto the sheets and tried to get back to sleep until it went off again.

Red finally opened his eyes, looking annoyed and borderline pissed as he sat up a little, glaring at the little screen as he read whose name was on it and flopped back into the bed. I could've sworn that if they could, his eyes would be glowing a bright red with hatred.

It seemed that he didn't recognize the number as he clicked the decline button and turned the damn thing off, tempted to throw it across the room. He was at least responsible enough to just set it back down next to the alarm clock, setting alarm to seven in the morning. He sighed as he buried his head back into the pillow, though his eyes were open again as there was a single hard knock at the door. I heard Snorlax whine about something from the other side of the room and finally after the second knock, Red sighed and swung his legs over the side of the bed and forced himself to the door. Whoever was trying to get a hold of him was starting to piss us all off.

As soon as he opened it however, his eyes visibly widened and was about to slam it shut when a shoe caught it at the last second. "I would not come to you like this if it wasn't important," a gruff voice said and upon hearing the voice, Charizard was snarling.

Giovanni, clad in what was obviously pajamas, easily overpowered Red as he forced the door open a bit more. I was beside Red's feet loyally, hissing and let electricity spark as I glared at the man. He couldn't see the others, but he could obviously hear them as he remained where he was. "You are the one who did not answer your pokegear, otherwise I would not be here at this ridiculous hour." How he even got Red's number was a mystery to me, even now.

He narrowed his eyes at Red, completely ignoring us pokemon now. "I am not here to fight you, I am here to warn you; I was visited by a trio who claimed to be their king's right-hand men just now. I don't know how they got in, but they asked if Team Rocket could help them in a goal they wish to obtain. Of course, they left little details out. However, as you know, Team Rocket is no more. I disbanded them when you won the Earth Badge."

Red didn't relax and said nothing as expected, keeping a close watch on the aging man in front of us. Hatred was coming out of every pore from his body and he struggled to contain it but just like I was, he was confused. Why was _Giovanni_ of all people telling us this?

"I have a feeling that will not be the last time we hear of them. If they are asking aid from Team Rocket, then there is no doubt they are seeking others for help. Arceus knows there are others who may be willing to help their unknown cause." He turned around, starting to walk away back to his room. "I warn you now: be careful while we are here. Even I do not know what is going to happen."

My trainer glared at the man's back until he disappeared into his room on the other side of the hall and when he had finally gone, Charizard stopped growing and the electric sparks from my cheeks disappeared. He closed the door firmly and locked it but he made no move to go back to bed for a while. Finally he sat on the bed and Espeon was right beside him, sensing just as well as the rest of us his troubled state of mind and nervousness. I was sure he thought the nightmares would come back if he even tried going back to sleep.

Charizard nudged his chest gently with his snout. He knew the perfect way to get Red's mind off of troubling thoughts any time; sure, we all had our ways to comfort our human, but sometimes it obviously wouldn't work. For some reason, the large fire-type managed to push through Red's distraction enough to get him to at least pet him and occasionally smile. This time was no different as he patted his muzzle and smiled slightly, causing a gentle growl come from the large lizard.

Eventually, the others fell asleep though I stayed up with Red, who couldn't sleep for the life of him like I thought. He was staring at the ceiling, clear that he was deep in thought and occasionally reached over to pet me as I nestled into his side where it was warmest. Espeon was on his other side, though she was out, small snores coming in a repeated fashion. For some reason, it was mesmerizing and I think I fell asleep since I heard the alarm blaring loudly a few hours later. Red had already disappeared into the shower so it was up to me to turn the stupid thing off. Well, it had been nice to sleep in for the past few days.

Espeon yawned and stretched just like a Persian would, front to back stretching. Snorlax was sitting up at least, but just like Red usually would be, he had a dopey look on his face as he scratched himself with a yawn. Blastoise had to wake Venusaur, much to the grass-type's displeasure. Charizard rolled his eyes at them, eyes flickering to the door as Red came out and he seemed to frown when he saw the dark circles underneath his eyes. I have no idea how long he was in there for but it must have been a while since steam flowed out of the bathroom like a sauna, thick, hot and suffocating mist flowed out of the door as Red left and turned the fan on.

With a grand total of maybe two hours of sleep last night, there was no wonder why he looked so tired, but he ignored concerned looks from the others as he pulled on his hat and shoes. He recalled them and I followed him out the door and through the hall to the dining room downstairs. It was strangely loud that morning when we neared the tables, and I blinked a few times as I saw how alive it was this morning. The champions were awake, most still trying to wake up though people like Wallace and Rosa were already wide awake and happily chatting with others.

Red grabbed a few items from the breakfast and sat an empty table, picking at the food until I scowled a bit at him. "Pikachu," I told him, poking his head and jumped onto the table. I grabbed a grape and handed it to him, near the point of force feeding it to him if he continued to just stare at it. He finally cracked a smile and took it, popping it into his mouth. Satisfied, I grabbed a slice of apple for myself and munched on it.

Red rested his head with his free hand, using the other that held the fork to poke at the rest of his food, looking up as someone sat across from him. "Well, you look like shit," Blue said, raising a brow as he took a bite of his oatmeal. "What happened to you?"

My trainer frowned, looking at his nearly full plate silently and almost instantly, Blue's face softened in sympathy. He knew all about the nightmares, and even though he hadn't seen what we had and didn't completely understand, he at least knew how to take Red's mind off of them just like we did. He looked up as Ethan came to the table with a full plate of pancakes and eggs with bacon and continued with, "Well if it makes you feel any better, at least we're most likely not going to be fighting anyone. I heard most of the finalists are from Sinnoh and Unova."

Ethan grinned. "Means it could be a possible free day! Not fair that the gym leaders only have to participate tomorrow," he stated and soon took a large bite of pancake.

Red rolled his eyes at him and Blue groaned suddenly. "Ugh… It's too early to think straight," he finally said and I could completely agree with him as I nodded with a soft, "Pikachu."

A slam of a tray on the fourth and final spot at our table startled us and we looked over towards our intruder. White invited herself to sit with us, though she looked less than pleased this fine morning. In fact, she looked pissed off as she chomped angrily into a poor piece of toast. She was pointedly ignoring her brother, who in turn ignored her as well. Sometimes I'm glad Red is an only child, I don't have to worry about any sibling rivalries. "What's wrong with you?" Ethan asked, blinking.

She stopped her angry eating and sent him a death glare. "Have you ever been so pissed off in your life that you don't want to talk about it until you calm down 'cause you know you'll say something bad and then regret it when comes back to bite you in the ass?" she replied sharply, causing the three boys to remain intelligently silent and look between each other in confusion, almost asking if the other was going to speak. "That stupid, good-for-nothing, son of a Bouffalant!" she suddenly exclaimed. She groaned. "I think I'm just irritated, I don't think I'm really mad at him."

She looked at the rest of us, each bewildered and admittedly, a bit frightened of her sudden change in temper. None of them had no idea what to say to an angry girl, and frankly, neither did I. Finally Blue mustered the courage to say questioningly, "So… erm… hi?"

"Hi," she mumbled under her breath and stuffed her mouth with egg. She slammed her fork down, causing Red and Ethan to jump at the sudden sound. "Black is just so irritating sometimes! He called me in the middle of the damn night to ask me how I was. How was I? I was sleeping for Arceus sake!"

Red frowned slightly, but he said nothing as he picked at his food once more. It was awkwardly silent for a while before Ethan turned and looked at Red and I. "So after this, what are you going to do today? I know your mom's here so are you going to be spending the day with her?"

Red shook his head, nodding towards Blue, who grinned. "We're going to train together at the beach Red trained yesterday. He says he didn't get attacked by paparazzi at all."

White finally perked up, and I could sense some of the anger disappear. "Can I come too?" she asked hopefully, toast forgotten. "I did, after all, show Red where that spot was."

Blue blinked and shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"Then that settles it! I'm coming too!" Ethan declared. He grinned and I managed to suppress a groan. "Besides, the more the merrier. Maybe we can even have a double battle!"

Red looked at Blue, shrugging and Blue groaned before looking at Ethan. "Fine. You can come but don't get us into any trouble."

"Trouble? Red gets into more trouble than me!"

"Says who?!"

"Says all the newspapers! At least my troubles weren't broadcasted to an entire region!"

"Yours was too, you dumbass!"

Red face-palmed and I let my cheeks spark with the beginnings of a Thundershock, ignoring White's giggling.

X-X-X

The stadium was absolutely packed with people; every single seat was taken in the large arena, and some of the overflow spots were beginning to fill up. We could all hear the roar of the insanely large crowds from behind the thick concrete walls on the arena level, each excitedly chatting with each other or just plain old screaming for no reason. Just like we had been instructed, each region would go one by one, and an announcer would introduce each of the champions individually. Luckily for Kanto, we were the final ones to be introduced with the local favorites Unova first.

I looked over as a man with a fancy looking headset on clad in black jeans and a black shirt with bold letters that said, _"STAFF,"_ approached us all to let us know that it was nearly time for us to be introduced. "In a few moments, these doors will open one by one. As soon as your door opens and the announcer states your region, go forward and stop at the white line in the middle of the arena. I also have a list of the champions the eight finalists wish to fight! Three would like to fight Cynthia, two for Red, one for Lance, one for Diantha and one for Dawn. After we introduce you to the audience, you are free to go and whoever gets chosen, we will call you on your pokegears at around three so keep them on hand! Good luck to you all!"

With that, he left us alone and Blue shrugged before turning to face Red and I. He looked fairly excited, hearing the announcer introducing the finalists one by one. "You're lucky you were chosen. I want you to squash the trainers if they win, got it?"

Red nodded. I was confident that no matter who we fought, if we did, it would be a breeze.

Ethan looked over at us from beside Lance with a grin. "Of course he's gonna squash 'em! Any of us could!" he exclaimed.

Lance chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Do not say that so quickly, Ethan. You never know who will be more powerful than yourself, and this is coming from experience," he said and looked towards us. "I did not imagine three children would defeat me, after all."

Ethan smiled up at him. "That's why you changed your team, right? To counter all of us?"

"Of course. I will not be so easy to defeat this time."

"But still defeatable."

"That isn't even a word," Blue replied with a frown.

Ethan laughed as Lance struggled not to sigh and roll his eyes at the young trainer. All of us turned to the first set of doors that opened and the Unova champions walked through, with White grinning at us before disappearing. _"And here we are! Our very own Unova Champions all in attendance! Sibling pairs Black and White, Rosa and Nate! Also in attendance is veteran Alder and current champion, Iris!"_

The crowds were loud, each screeching and chanting various champions and their names and kept cheering as the next set opened up. _"The dazzling ladies of Sinnoh! Current title holder of World Champion Cynthia and Tamer of Giratina, Champion Dawn!"_ Giratina? Well, if she could tame a legendary, I'm sure she would be a powerful opponent. I kind of hoped we would fight her, she sounded like she would be a challenge we needed.

I looked at Red, looking excited and he smiled, nodding as he scratched my head and I could sense a bite of calm coming from him, setting his face to his blank expression again.

"_All the way from the Isles of Hoenn, we have Champion Brendan, geologist extraordinaire Steven and the water extraordinaire,, Wallace!"_

If he used just water pokemon, he should be no trouble to defeat.

"_From the starry region of Kalos, Champion Calem, Champion Serena and our favorite movie star, Diantha!"_ The screeches were loud as soon as Diantha was announced, and I watched the stylish champions walk out onto the field. Stylish as they may be, I briefly wondered who wore what better: Diantha and her strange white coat or Lance's cape.

There was a slight hissing sound and I looked at Ethan as he turned to us, smiling. "See you on the field!" he said cheerfully as the doors in front of he and Lance opened up.

"_Home of the Bell Tower in Johto, Champion Ethan and Dragon Master, Lance!"_

The cheers grew louder, and I could hear so many of the younger ladies screaming Ethan's name as if they were unable to choose between the two. Blech. Shortly the doors in front of us were opened and the cheers suddenly grew even louder than before as Red and Blue walked towards the other champions.

"_And last but not least, the two youngest trainers to have ever earned the title of Champion in the world, all the way from Kanto, final gym leader Blue and the Champion of the Mountain, Red!"_ Blue and I happily waved to the crowd, Red remained stoic through the entire introductions, the intimidating frown replacing any emotion on his face. I wasn't sure how the crowd could have gotten any louder, my ears were starting to hurt a little.

The eight trainers before us all looked nervous and excited all at once, and I frowned a bit in disappointment. They seemed to be able to handle their own in a battle, but they seemed… weak. I knew I shouldn't have been thinking like this, but when journeying so far for so long, I got to recognize the behavior differences between amazing trainers to moderate ones, and seeing their stances and their ages, some of them hadn't been training long. I briefly glanced at my trainer's face, seeing the slight frown on his face as well.

However just as Lance had said, we couldn't judge them simply based off of their looks. Maybe we would be as surprised as Lance had been when we first defeated him in battle.

"_The champions from each region will be participating in their own tournament on Wednesday, however today our very first match will start in ten minutes so don't go anywhere, folks! The first match has been randomly selected: Joey versus Barry!"_ The announcer listed off the other matches as Red looked around at the different trainers, all eight nervously smiling at us all, though soon two walked off to get prepared for their match and the rest of us were allowed to leave the stage.

As soon as we were all out, Ethan gave a sigh of relief as the four of us walked away from the stadium. It was much quieter outside of the arena, though the echoes of the cheers were still loud in the sky. I was happy that the suffocation of the thousands of people watching us finally dissipated and Blue smiled. "I can't wait for our battles to start," he said and Ethan glowered.

"I'll take you down in order to fight Red first!"

"Why are you still going on about that?!"

White looked amused as she watched them, looking at Red. "Are they always like this?" she asked curiously and Red nodded once, looking annoyed at the two of them. She giggled as she leaned forward. "Why are you fighting over Red? It's not like it'll be up to you who you fight first."

She shrugged and Ethan looked at her as if she had said something wrong. "Are you out of your mind? I have a bet with Blue that I'll fight him first!"

"You do not!" Blue retorted.

"Now I do!"

"Ugh!"

"What if neither of you fought him then? What if it's me who has to fight him first?" White asked, egging them on. Red shot her a pleading look which she ignored, grinning ear to ear.

"Then I'll fight him during training!" Ethan exclaimed.

Blue rolled his eyes at the younger trainer and looked at White and Red. "If we're going to do a double battle, I say it should be me and Red versus you and Ethan."

White grinned and nodded. "You're on, spiky hair man," she said and I smiled as Blue narrowed his eyes.

"Doesn't his hair defy gravity?" Ethan added, grinning as Blue's annoyance only rose.

"Arceus, Ethan, would you cut it out already?!"

"Not until you tell me your secrets! When your hair is wet, does it all fall down like those commercials you see on T.V. with the women with the really long, thick hair?"

"I'll bet if he straightens it and puts on a little bit of foundation, he could pass for a chick," White added and by now Red was smiling. I decided now that White wasn't such a bad person. She laughed as Blue glared at her now.

"I'll have you know that my hair isn't that long, and when it gets wet, it stays like this, thank you very much!" Blue snapped.

"How much hair product do you use then? I need to find a new style for my hair, tell me your secrets!"

"Argh! Come on, Red, help a friend out!"

Red threw his hands up in defense, silently saying he wasn't going to get involved in any of this. That only invited Ethan and White to keep ganging up on poor Blue for the rest of the walk.

X-X-X

The beach calmed everyone down by the time we got there, and we all agreed it should be only one pokemon each. Ethan most definitely wanted to play in the water instead while White completely agreed, declaring how much she wanted to see Blue's "long and flowing" hair. Red was indifferent about it, but I think I convinced him to relax at least a little bit. If we had to battle tonight, we wouldn't even know until around three in the afternoon, and that was four hours from now.

Red and Blue stood near the cave entrance and my trainer nodded towards me and I jumped in front of him as Blue released Arcanine. The dog seemed delighted to be out of his pokéball, going so far as to knock his trainer over in giddy joy and licked his cheek before jumping out in front of him again. "Ew! Now I have slobber all over my face!" he objected as he stood up and Arcanine was grinning and barked once at him.

"_Serves him right. We haven't been running at all this entire time and I've been stuck in there,"_ he said and looked at me and then ahead as Ethan and White sent out their pokemon.

Ursaring came out with a roar and beside him, a strange green snake pokemon came out, regarding us with harsh eyes. Red looked confused at the sight of it and pulled out his pokédex to scan the pokemon. He wasn't the only one though; Ethan and Blue also looked at it with curiosity and scanned it with their own pokédexes. "Serperior? I want one of those," Ethan stated as he put the pokédex away. "I'm all fired up now! The rest of you ready?"

Blue and Red nodded once. There was a few seconds of silence, each human waiting for someone to go first. Blue decided to end that silence with, "Arcanine, use Agility!"

Red flicked a finger towards Ursaring: Fake-Out.

"Coil, Serperior!" Serperior glowed a dim purple as its stats were raised, and I was only happy it didn't get any faster.

"Ursaring, Scary Face!"

I came up to Ursaring quickly and used the move before he could use the speed-reducing move, grinning as he flinched and noticed the two fingers pointing up, signaling Thunderbolt.

"Serperior, get Pikachu off with Vine Whip!" The vines came out of his neck and he cried out as he tried to grab me; I was about to get away but continued my attack when I saw an orange blur shortly quickly come to my defense.

"Arcanine, Extreme Speed against Serperior! Combine Fire Fang!"

I stopped my Thunderbolt and jumped away from Ursaring although he did land a Counter against me while Arcanine quickly slammed Serperior away then tossed him to the side with Fire Fang. Ursaring's move caused me to cry out in pain, though I shook it off and hissed at the bear. I did notice Ursaring was having difficulty moving—and I got my hopes up! He was paralyzed! I grinned and landed beside Arcanine. We had Ursaring and Serperior separated, and in double battles it was imperative to have the team stick together. Ethan and White obviously didn't notice it at first, but Blue and Red both told us to go after Ursaring: he was at the higher level and we knew what he was weak against.

I heard a loud snap and I cried out, "Pika!" as I sent a powerful Thunder his way beside a Fire Blast from Arcanine.

"Ursaring, use Endure, quickly!" Ethan cried, then blocked his face as the sand rose after our attacks hit the normal-type. As soon as the dust cleared, he pouted when Ursaring collapsed instead, the paralysis coming just in time for us.

Blue grinned as Ursaring fainted. Serperior was glowing a dim green by then, Overgrow coming into effect. "Arcanine, use Fire Fang against Serperior!"

A fist signaled Slam, and I allowed myself to sprint into the grass-type and he cried out in pain as the two attacks hit at once, too slow to use Leaf Storm as a counter.

When Serperior fainted, White went to her pokemon and smiled. "That was the shortest double battle ever," she declared as she pulled out a Revive, and Ethan did the same for Ursaring. "You two are really, really good together. But I think next time it should be me and Red against you two."

Blue thought for a moment, using a Hyper Potion on Arcanine to heal his various scratches while Red did the same for me. "Well, I guess it isn't a bad idea. But we only agreed to one pokemon this battle, so right now, we can do whatever we want."

I looked up at Red when he finished healing the bruise on my chest from the Counter attack. "Pika!"

He smiled and nodded, grabbing the rest of the pokéballs while Ethan had already released his team, telling them to play nice with the other pokemon. White then smiled, releasing her team as well. Utterly curious about the different pokemon, Red approached them, and White giggled. "He's always had a fascination with new species, sometimes I wonder if he hadn't gotten into battling if he'd be a researcher," Blue explained and ignored a glare from Red.

"Mandi?" The strange bird tilted his head as Red opened one of her wings, looking confused then looked at White. _"What on earth is he doing?" _she asked, looking at me and I shrugged.

"_He does this. He's weird like that,"_ Snorlax stated. I remember after Red caught him and gained his trust, he was sitting on the large pokemon's stomach, nearly lost in his long fur.

"That's Mandibuzz. I'm kind of surprised she hasn't pecked you yet for touching her wings," White said and laughed as Red quickly let go, not wanting to risk getting pecked. Mandibuzz simply glared at Red a bit more before flying off to perch in a tree overlooking the beach. A Herdier look-alike barked happily, tail wagging as Ethan scratched his ears. "And that's Stoutland. He's a people pokemon."

A fourth pokemon went up to Red instead, completely see through and looking just as intrigued about Red as Red was about it. _"I can understand why he is very curious, he has never seen anything like my kind before,"_ he said and caused Red to jump. White laughed as Ethan and Blue also jumped, hearing his voice. _"I am Reunclius. I do apologize for scaring you three."_ Red nodded once. _"But may I ask: how are your eyes red? Surely, it is not a birth defect?"_

Red glowered at the pokemon, shaking his head and I laughed. He was always so irritated when someone mentioned the color of his eyes and for some reason, I had always found it funny.

"_No, his eyesight is perfectly fine,"_ Espeon explained for our trainer, this time startling White. Red smiled a bit as White knelt down to Espeon's level and pet her head.

"She's so cute! I love the color of her fur too; don't tell Black this but purple is my most definite favorite color in the world," she said to us all and Blue grinned.

"I'll be sure to tell him when I see him next," he said and she instantly shot a glare.

"Blue!"

"It's what you get for getting onto me about my hair!"

"Ugh!"

She looked over and smiled as a pokemon walking on two feet shyly stayed next to her, regarding the others with only mild interest. "This is Mienshao. She's a bit shy, but she opens up once you get to know her. And that over there with your Ampharos is Zebstrika." She smiled as the black and white pokemon turned towards us, tossing her head happily in greeting, resuming her conversation with Ampharos. Girls, I swear.

Red returned to the other humans as I ran with Jolteon, Stoutland and Togetic into the water to play, while Gyarados and Blastoise were already far out into the water, racing again to see who was the fastest underwater while Pidgeot, Mandibuzz, Scizor and Charizard were in the sky for their race.

We were on the beach for hours, and soon I heard Espeon chuckling alongside the other lady pokemon, calling us over. _"Pikachu! Jolteon! We need to form a plan, but we need your help!"_ she was saying and I made a sound and glanced at Jolteon, who shrugged and wandered to the other eevee-lution.

"_What is it now?"_ he asked, sitting down beside her. _"This is not another one of your grand schemes to get us into trouble again, is it?"_

"_Oh, heavens, no,"_ Togetic replied with a smile.

"_It's obvious now. There's something going on between White and Red, but we need help getting Red to… how do I put this, notice White,"_ Zebstrika said, grinning. Mienshao was snickering and I blinked, looking at them in confusion.

"_And why do you need our help?"_ I asked cautiously.

"_Obviously, we are all close to our trainers. But we need Blue and Red to have some more time to themselves, leaving more openings in Red's schedule,"_ Mienshao explained quietly. I was confused for a moment before I looked over at the humans, seeing the four relaxing on the beach with Snorlax providing shade for them before looking back at the ladies.

"_Do you get it now?"_ Zebstrika asked.

"_Yes, but I don't know if Red likes White back now. At first, I thought he did but now I just think he's completely oblivious to her,"_ I admitted and Espeon nodded in agreement.

"_A woman's intuition is far greater than any man's. White is too shy to admit it to Red directly, so that's why she wanted to know him more by asking Blue and Ethan some questions,"_ Togetic stated. _"Even Ethan isn't that dumb. But admittedly, he does have more people skills than Red."_

"_All we're asking for is for you to distract Blue while we distract Ethan. It shouldn't be hard to do, those two are easily distracted with silly arguments,"_ Espeon added.

"_Will you help us?"_

I glanced at Jolteon, who sighed, fur bristling with electricity briefly as he thought about it. _"I guess. Blue always worries about Red never having enough social skills to get a girlfriend."_

"_Great! But the first step to any sort of relationship is a date. However, we made Red promise that he can't have a girlfriend until after the tournament is over,"_ Espeon explained, looking suddenly troubled. _"That was partly my fault."_

"_Just tell him that you renounce your previous statement and allow him to at least date!"_ Togetic said and I glanced towards Red, who looked bored among the three other humans and stared off towards the sea, looking completely at peace.

Espeon nodded and smiled. _"We'll tell him tonight, right Pikachu? We have to tell the others, of course, but not right now. Tonight when Red takes a shower and if he doesn't let us out of our pokéballs, be sure to let us. That'll be the only time we'll have to discuss this with each other, okay?"_

I nodded. I could at least do that.

"_I dub this Operation: Get A Date,"_ Mienshao proclaimed happily and received delighted agreements from the other lady pokemon. Jolteon and I just looked at each other.

We already knew Operation: Get A Date would be harder than it sounded.

X-X-X


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** If any of the battling is confusing, please let me know and I'll work on my battle polishing skills :) Enjoy!

* * *

_6_

_Pikachu_

Every pokemon out on the beach were happily playing and goofing around each other, White and Ethan had to separate Mandibuzz and Togetic while Blue was grooming Jolteon. All of them were enjoying themselves, though they hardly went into the water; each of them complained about how cold it was and didn't go any deeper than their ankles. Ethan had tried to shove Blue into the water and got a face full of Water Gun from Blastoise instead. Soaked from head to toe, he only laughed and said how happy he was that his shoes, socks and sweatshirt were far from the water.

I was looking around for my own trainer and instantly grew irritated when he wasn't near the rocky cave like he had been before; Red had done his magic trick and disappeared from all our views. I gritted my teeth and let a few sparks fly and looked up at Charizard, who simply sighed and fanned his wings to take off to search for our missing trainer. I heard some of the other pokemon from other teams tell us to lighten up, however after spending so much time on a dangerous mountain top, we told ourselves to keep the young man in sight. Obviously, it didn't work out all the time.

After Charizard flew off, I shouted to the others that I would go search for him as well. Espeon was busy with the other pokemon playing a game with a seashell they found, Blastoise was far out in the water with Gyarados while Venusaur and Snorlax lounged on the beach and both decided to be lazy and stay where it warmed their fur or scales. While Red was more than capable of taking care of himself, it didn't mean he wouldn't get himself into trouble... again.

He had a knack of finding trouble wherever he was, especially alone. He was just lucky he hadn't gotten injured from the wild pokemon back on the mountain. When we first arrived, he would constantly wander into other pokemon's territory unknowingly and cause the defending pokemon to attack. Myself or another one of the team would hear the commotion, complain about who was next to get Red out of trouble.

Blue was right, however. If he hadn't become a trainer, he would have obviously been a researcher, he was constantly going back to the wild pokemon's territory to see how the different species mingled with each other. Sometimes he would be down there for a few minutes, others for hours at a time. He was almost down there for an entire day once and it scared the living daylights out of all of us when we couldn't find him. We eventually found him in the lowest cave in the mountain, though instead of going to us, he told us to be quiet and pointed towards the nearly glowing pokemon that rested in its scorched bed.

We had caught the three legendary birds and released them after trouble had passed, but he seemed to find something funny: Moltres wasn't there when we first arrived. Perhaps Moltres somehow knew that Red was there or maybe he didn't realize his former trainer was there now. Either way, he had been asleep and bored out of our minds, Venusaur was the one who dragged Red away back up to the summit.

Currently, I wandered through the trees looking for my trainer, annoyed that even here he would wander off and risk getting lost. Arceus knows we got lost enough back in Kanto. I sighed as I trudged through the mud, then my ears perked up when I heard laughter from pokemon nearby and I ran towards them the moment I heard a high-pitched voice say, _"This is great! He has the best poffins ever!"_

I broke through a bush and shook the leaves out of my fur, seeing two four-legged pokemon happily surrounding my trainer who in turn handed them both poffins he'd somehow gotten a hold of. He looked at me once he heard me, smiling briefly before patting the smaller one's head and picked me up. _"Who are you?"_ she asked, big brown eyes blinking curiously at me as her ears twitched. She was definitely a grass type, and if the green fur didn't give it away, the flower _growing _from her head would.

The pokemon beside her was much larger, though he had many thick, green leaves on his antlers, regarding me with cautious eyes but snorted once and said nothing.

"_I'm Pikachu. This is Red, my trainer. If he was bothering you, it's okay if you Headbutt him or something."_ I shrugged and Red blinked as he tried to understand our speech, his face twisted with confusion.

"_Then how come he doesn't talk?"_

"_Because he doesn't have to, you don't have to talk in order to get your point across. Like this, for example."_ I let a small Thundershock out to Red, who yelped in surprise and gave me a hard glare that I returned. _"See? And you have got to stop running off! What if you really got hurt this time? I know you can't understand me, but stop laughing!"_ Red simply pushed my anger aside, laughing heartily as if this was just a giant game. He patted my head once and looked at the other two pokemon as the larger one chuckled softly.

"_He must trust you a lot if he just ignores a Thundershock. I am Sawsbuck, this is my daughter, Deerling."_ Deerling smiled up at me again, but she said nothing as Red pulled out three poffins, handing one to me and the two grass types. _"I normally don't go near humans, but I must admit that your trainer is a wonderful chef."_

I smiled and nodded. _"He wasn't bothering you though, right? He has a tendency to study pokemon by touching them and staring creepily, no matter how dangerous they are."_

Sawsbuck shook his head once. _"No, Deerling was the one who found him, she said she smelled something good in his pockets. He was the one who was cautious when he saw us and he went slowly to show us he meant no harm."_

Deerling, however, nodded enthusiastically. _"Yea! I smelled the poffins!" _She suddenly hung her head a little and added sheepishly,_ "I accidentally tackled him though and got his shirt all dirty. I said I was sorry but he gave me one anyhow and even Dad tried to apologize but after he had a poffin too, he trusted Red!"_

Boy, did she talk a lot. But I guess I was glad that Red wasn't the one who bothered them, maybe he didn't even expect running into any pokemon here but with this experience, it made me wonder if Red always had something on him to try and divert the attacking pokemon's attention. Good thinking for someone who wanders all the time.

"_Well, I'm glad he didn't get you into trouble. We have to go now, we might have a battle today, but we're waiting for a phone call—"_

"_From that world tournament thingy in the city?"_

I nodded and Sawsbuck tilted his head a little. _"I heard from an Accelgor that a champion will be fighting the winner of the tournament. You are a part of a champion team?"_ he asked curiously. _"I met one once when I was a Deerling myself, I think his name is Alder, but I heard he is going to be there too."_

"_Yep! We're from Kanto, and Alder's participating, but I'm sure we'll beat him, right Red?"_ I smiled at my trainer, who still looked confused at all the talking but smiled back anyhow. I sort of wish Espeon had come just so she could translate—even Reunclius the see-through guy.

"_I wanna be a part of a champion team! Please, Dad, can I? Can I?! Ooh! How about we just follow them and watch their battle! Pretty, pretty please!"_

Sawsbuck was the one who now looked confused. _"Why?"_ he blurted and she promptly took a determined step towards Red, stomping a hoof into the ground.

Then with a straight face, she nearly shouted, _"'Cause I wanna be the very best! The strongest Deerling ever! Like no Deerling ever was!"_

Somehow, that sounded oddly familiar.

X-X-X

Charizard found us heading back to the beach a few minutes after, and somehow, Sawsbuck allowed Deerling to follow us, telling me to promise him that she would be back by the end of the day. Red didn't seem to mind the excitable grass type, but Charizard didn't enjoy her company at all. She kept badgering him to say more than one-line responses, if she could get him to, and kept comparing him to Red and how her father was taller than he was and what she found in a cave the other day. Annoyed at the smaller pokemon, he kept Red in between us all, walking on all fours and taking care that his tail didn't accidentally light anything on fire.

As we finally reached the beach, Blue was immediately annoyed and looked at my trainer with narrowed eyes. However, as soon as he spotted Deerling, the anger disappeared and it was replaced with confusion then promptly whipped out the handy dandy pokedex. "You did notice a wild Deerling is following you, right?" he asked as he pocketed the pokedex, to which Red shrugged and sat beside Snorlax instead. "But seriously, where'd you go this time? And why is that Deerling flirting with Charizard?"

Red blinked and looked at Deerling, who was jumping around Charizard excitedly. I looked at Espeon, telling her what happened in the forest and she gave a soft giggle, soon sitting beside Red so she could translate to him as well as Blue when he sat down beside Red. _"I was told she is following you so she can see a battle today. She wants to be a part of a champion's team one day. I believe it is an admirable goal, and I see no harm in letting her watch a battle today," _she said and Red blinked, looking at Deerling as she followed Charizard all around, but pouted once he grew irritated enough to take to the sky and fly off. _"And she is very attached to Charizard for mysterious reasons,"_ Espeon added with a laugh.

Blue laughed as well and looked at Deerling when she trotted to Red. He patted her head and I laughed when she jumped when a loud noise suddenly went off in Red's pocket. I'm horrible, I kept laughing as she gave us a loud, _"You're mean! It's not funny!"_

"_Yes it is!" _I replied through laughs. She was still young, she'd get over it.

As for Red, he looked at his pokegear, answering it with a simple, "Hmm?"

I could hear the other voice say something but as to what, I didn't know but Red gave another grunt in response and hung up, stretching as he stood up before turning towards the water. He put two fingers into his mouth before whistling loudly, calling Blastoise over as he dusted sand off of himself. I could only assume that we were battling tonight. At least we had a warm-up before the real challenge on Wednesday.

As he waited for Blastoise, to come back to the shore, Ethan smiled, running to Red's side. "You're battling tonight?" he asked hopefully and Red nodded once. "Sweet, what time?"

Red held up four fingers and then grabbed his pokéballs, recalling the team, save for myself and Charizard, once we were all assembled. White seemed to be a little excited as well, but she looked at her own pokegear—even though it was different than Red's—and sighed as she stared at the much larger screen on her wrist. "Black wants to talk. So I don't know if I'll make it. But I'll come if I can." She recalled her own team and flew off towards the city with Mandibuzz. "See you later!" she called as she disappeared over the hill.

"I want an Xtranseiver. They can play games and have tons of apps too! I think while I'm here, I should upgrade," Ethan suddenly pointed out, tapping his own pokegear's tiny screen.

I stretched and yawned, suddenly looking at Togetic as she winked at me before she was also recalled. Pidgeot remained out as Blue mounted and Ethan carried Deerling as he took a spot on Charizard's back. Pidgeot looked at Charizard and I then trilled, _"Don't forget about tonight! Togetic told me that we're all going to be keeping our trainers away from each other! For all we know, Red is interested in her too!"_ She was soon airborne, flapping her wings with steady, strong beats.

I had to laugh while Charizard rolled his eyes and took off after them as we headed for the stadium.

X-X-X

No sooner than we had landed, all of us were at once relieved when everyone was still inside, leaving us room to recall Charizard and Pidgeot and head inside calmly. We were greeted by Red's mother first, surprising Red the moment she waved at them. Ethan smiled and Blue gave a half-wave, putting his hands back into his jacket pocket as she approached us. "The tournament officials also called me and told me that you were fighting today, so I hurried on over! Ethan, Blue, if you would like, they gave us a good spot above the crowds, we can see everything from there," she offered.

"Sure! It'll be nice to be able to stretch out instead of sit with crowds that are sure to smother us," Ethan said cheerfully and Red's mother laughed while Red rolled his eyes at him.

"I guess. I was just going to watch in the stands, but it isn't a bad idea to get a box," Blue agreed.

"Awesome! Now Red, better knock 'em outta here!"

"And if you lose to them, I get to laugh at you for at least a month."

Red rolled his eyes at them and the three of them soon parted with a fist bump, with someone wearing the STAFF shirt led the three of them and Deerling up a set of stairs. Someone else approached us, smiling cheerfully. "All right, the match doesn't start for thirty minutes, but let's get you set up and ready to go," she said. Soon we went down a set of stairs that went underneath the field, into a hall and finally stopped at a door that had a sign that read _WAITING ROOM_ on the front of it.

She opened the door for us and finally we were inside, where an automatic healing machine rested near the back. "You can heal your pokemon before the battle, refreshments are in the fridge and bathroom is through there. Now, your opponent is currently on the other side of the field, and the most I am allowed to tell you is that his name is Joey. When it is three fifty five, someone will come back and lead you to the platform that will raise you to the battling platform."

Red nodded once and she soon left us alone for twenty minutes of peace. He went to the machine, putting everyone's pokéballs onto the machine and looked at me. I shook my head, telling him I didn't need to be healed and he nodded again before pressing the button to give energy to the others. After that was finished, he gave a soft groan as he sat on one of the many couches, rubbing his face as he stared off into space for a few moments. There really was nothing else to do in this room except for staring until I hopped into his lap, grinning with a loud, "Pika!"

He smiled and scratched my head but quickly grew bored when the seconds seemed like hours. As the minutes ticked away like molasses, I stretched across Red's lap but when I saw his face, I frowned. He was deep in thought about something, staring at a single spot on the ceiling. I was sure he was thinking about what Giovanni had told us last night and there was no doubt in my mind that Red was worried about it. I sat up a bit and said a soft, "Pikachu," to catch his attention but frowned when it didn't seem to work. I butted my head against his hand and finally his concentration broke and he looked at me as he pet me. However, no smile was there, his mind still on Giovanni.

I didn't need him to worry about that when we were about to have a battle, in fact I wish he didn't have to worry about it. Whatever those people wanted from Team Rocket, I wanted to find out and I somehow knew Red did as well. I also wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to make sure the Rockets were truly gone for good, even after their pathetic return in Johto. We only found out about that until Blue had told us Ethan took care of them in no time while on his journey there.

Before I myself could become too engrossed in my mind, my ears twitched when I picked up footsteps nearing the door. Red heard the door open and stood up as a man smiled at us. "Almost time! You ready?" he asked and instead Red just picked me up and set me onto his shoulder as he followed him through the hall and towards a metal platform with safety rails on three sides. "This will raise in three minutes, so be ready! Have fun and good luck in the battle!" He stepped back, waiting near the side with a console with many different buttons on them, with a distinguishable pair of buttons that were simply colored green and red.

My trainer looked up when a loud cheer suddenly boomed above us and he looked at me with the silent question of, _"Ready?"_

I gave a nod, grinning. I was ready for whatever this Joey had to throw at us.

"_Ladies and gentleman, welcome to our final battle of today! This year, we had the most contestants participate in this tournament—a whopping three thousand and forty eight from all over the world! However, only one made it to the top and we would like to congratulate Trainer Joey of Johto for being our World Tournament Winner of this year!"_ The announcer paused as the cheering came back, possibly because this "Joey" was now on the field. I rolled my eyes and I looked up when a pair of metal doors slid apart and hid us from prying eyes with a smoke machine. _"Since Trainer Joey is the winner, he has chosen an elusive and powerful champion to battle today! Please welcome Champion Red!"_

Excited screaming erupted suddenly as the platform began to go up though Red and I winced a bit at the sheer volume before he set his face into the famous emotionless mask. Elusive is right though, we were hardly seen off of our mountain as of recent, not that any of them mind. I'm sure everyone was thrilled to finally see us again and besides, it made for a better show to show us off.

Every single seat in the place was full, and I could have sworn it was even fuller than it was this morning. Then my eyes laid upon the trainer across from us and it was clear he was nervous and excited at the same time, smiling like an idiot with nothing but determination in his eyes.

"_Champion Red will send out his first pokemon, letting the challenger decide which one to use. No breaks or items are allowed, and should the challenger win, he will not earn a champion title. Switches are allowed on both sides. This is a full six on six battle, so Champion Red, please send out your first pokemon!"_

I looked at Red, and he shook his head once at me before tossing out Charizard's pokéball. Charizard let out a huge roar, on all four of his legs with his wings tucked in close. I was sure this would be a good battle—Joey's face had considerably paled as soon as the roar was over. _"Champion Red has chosen Charizard! What pokemon will Trainer Joey send out?"_

Ugh, one thing I absolutely, _positively_ did not miss were annoying announcers.

"I choose you, Tyranitar!" he shouted through his nervousness, and soon the other pokemon that was out roared as well, though not nearly as ear-piercing as its opponent.

"_Trainer Joey has chosen Tyranitar, his most common pokemon used as of today! You may begin!"_

"Tyranitar, use Sandstorm! Blind Charizard!"

I watched as Charizard took to the sky, unleashing a powerful Inferno and even through the Sandstorm, I could see several different marks where Tyranitar had been burned.

"_It looks like Tyranitar is already burned! Trainer Joey had better watch out for that!"_

"Tyranitar, use Rock Slide!"

I had to laugh at this. When we were on our journey, Red had Charizard learn a very, very useful HM he had received and had proven useful while in many different cave explorations: Charizard countered every single rock thrown at him with Rock Smash, quickly diving _towards_ the rocks, nearly disappearing in the midst of the sand and the now-pebbles.

"_Charizard has used Rock Smash against Rock Slide and has now disappeared from view! What will Trainer Joey do next?!"_

Charizard roared as he let loose a near-dragon shaped white glow: the Dragon Rage hit Tyranitar dead-on and it finally stumbled, looking exhausted from the burn it had. "Tyranitar! Use Hyper Beam!"

Oh, bringing out the big stuff, are we? Charizard did an impressive barrel roll to avoid the strong white-purple beam and smirked as Tyranitar panted, its energy nearly depleted by now. Yeesh, and this guy beat three thousand other people? No wonder this wasn't an official Elite Four match. I'm willing to bet even Bruno would give us a harder time.

"_That was an impressive display, though Charizard hasn't taken a single hit!"_

Charizard did wince, however; the sandstorm was slowly sapping away his energy while up in the air like that. Another loud snap and he was back on the ground, however his wings were tucked in again. Red directed Charizard with a finger pointed sideways; Charizard snapped his wings open suddenly and quick as a flash, was directly in front of the Tyranitar with a point-blank Fire Blast.

The sandstorm finally died out and Charizard jumped away, right in front of us while Tyranitar struggled to remain upright, but after a few moments of hesitation, finally collapsed in a heap on the now-sandy arena. _"And Tyranitar is down! Amazing!"_

Joey gulped and returned his fallen pokemon, frowning in thought before he threw another pokéball. "I choose you, Golduck!"

The water type was on the field in a flash of white, studying its opponent before going into a defensive stance.

"_Trainer Joey has selected Golduck, leaving Charizard at yet another disadvantage! But what we saw from Tyranitar, this will prove to be yet another challenge for Trainer Joey!"_

Would someone please shut that stupid announcer up? Red was clearly in the same boat as I was, giving a quiet, annoyed groan. "Golduck, quick! Use Water Pulse!"

The strange attack came in three rings of water, and even though it hit Charizard, he didn't become confused like Joey had hoped, but he was greatly weakened, now panting as the fire on his tail became a bit brighter. Red nodded once to Charizard and with the most terrifying face he could muster, Golduck stumbled a bit backwards in nervousness, hesitating before obeying another Water Pulse attack. Even though the attack hit Charizard, the Scary Face had given him enough time to go in with a strong Slash attack, slamming Golduck to ground hard.

As Charizard went back into the sky to come down for a Wing Attack, the gem on its forehead glowed brightly.

"Golduck, use Psybeam! Keep Charizard away from you!"

Golduck sent out a beam of psychic energy, crying out as it fired out multiple blasts that Charizard kept avoiding until one finally hit. I noticed the fire on his tail start to glow brighter, nearing the end of his energy as he panted before firing a powerful Flamethrower to counter another Hydro Pump. When the water began to overpower his attack, Red signaled him to add strength, letting the fire burn brighter and hotter as it turned into Blast Burn. Somehow, both attacks hit both pokemon, and as soon as dust cleared, Charizard remained standing as Golduck collapsed.

The cheers were loud as Joey gritted his teeth together and returned Golduck. Charizard, on the other hand, was panting, exhausted and completely drained as Joey cried, "Go, Arbok! Use Thunder Fang!"

Charizard, having just used Blast Burn, was too slow to avoid the attack and soon fainted with a few sparks flying off of his scales.

"_Champion Red has lost his first pokemon in the match! What will he send out next?!"_

I really, really wanted to fight. I was getting restless and bored, but I knew he wouldn't send me when he had an obvious advantage with Espeon, who appeared on the field shortly. She gracefully landed on the ground quietly, eyeing the Arbok with a dangerous look in her eerie eyes.

"_An Espeon!"_

"Arbok, use Crunch!"

Arbok lunged for Espeon, but Espeon didn't move, sitting on the ground as the gem on her forehead glowed brightly as she grabbed Arbok from the air at its highest point with Psychic. "What?!" Joey cried. "Arbok, use Acid Spray!"

As Arbok fired the attack, Espeon's tail twitched slightly—obviously predicting where the attack would hit if she didn't do _anything_—and she slammed the snake into the ground, forcing the attack to hit the sand instead. When Arbok was freed from Psychic, it made a pained sound as it flared its belly, trying to intimidate Espeon, though knowing her, she would be laughing instead.

Joey grabbed the rails of his platform, looking at his pokemon. "Arbok, are you okay?" he asked and the snake nodded, not removing its eyes from Espeon. "Good! Use Poison Sting and get up close!"

Espeon jumped to avoid the many stingers aimed for her, but with another Psychic, Arbok was down.

"_Three of Trainer Joey's pokemon are now out for the count while Champion Red still has five!"_

"Fearow, go!"

"Fea!" the large bird cried.

By now I nearly begged Red to switch Espeon out for me and finally he nodded, returning Espeon. _"What's this? Champion Red has recalled Espeon and sent out Pikachu!"_

Joey didn't enjoy that, but I gave Fearow a cocky grin, and immediately I saw the angry look in its eyes. "Fearow, use Drill Run!"

As Fearow's beak glowed and it started spinning towards me at an impossible speed, I heard a loud and clear snap. I jumped out of the way of the bird and let sparks fly. "Pika-CHUUU!" I shouted, pointing above Fearow and sent the Thunder straight into the bird.

It fainted immediately and I had to admit, I was a little disappointed. At least Pidgeot could take three before she finally fainted, and that was before. I knew she's gotten stronger since then.

"_Fearow wasn't even given a chance to land a hit! Trainer Joey has now sent out Houndoom!"_

A Houndoom stood before me, baring its teeth at me savagely, and Joey smiled, but it was clear he believed he would lose. At least he looked like he was having the time of his life, which is good since unhappy trainers equals unhappy pokemon, thereby making an entire team worthless. "Houndoom, use Flamethrower!"

I jumped out of the way with Agility and came crashing into its left side with Slam. Houndoom was quick to jump away and instantly fire another Flamethrower, singing the fur on my tail. _"Aw, really?! My tail?! You couldn't scorch an arm or a leg?"_ I whined.

"_You move too fast, it's your fault!"_ Houndoom retorted, growling again.

"_Too fast my ass! You're too slow!"_

I heard a clear clap and I used Thunderbolt against the tail-scorching dog. My tail fur takes so long to grow, he has no idea how long it took for it to grow back from my last battle against a fire type!

Houndoom was suddenly having difficulty moving, paralyzed from the Thunderbolt. I flicked my tail before eyeing Red momentarily as he nodded once, allowing me to start sprinting to Houndoom one more time, electricity surrounding me. Before Houndoom could even take a step back, its eyes widened as I neared him with blinding speed. "Pika-pika-PIKA-PIKACHU!" I shouted, the Volt Tackle injuring Houndoom, but the one unfortunate aftereffect of the move was I felt a little of the hit as well. I shook my fur when Houndoom fainted, jumping back in front of Red with a determined glare.

"_Pikachu has knocked Houndoom out of the match! From what we have seen, Joey's last pokemon is—yes! His Raticate!"_

"Let's go, Raticate!"

I paused as I stared at the Raticate. Had I seen it somewhere before? I don't know, but I do know that Red directed me to use Thunder; he wasn't going to risk another Volt Tackle against a _Raticate_ for Arceus' sake.

"Sucker Punch!" Before my attack hit, Raticate cried out as it punched not once, but twice with the dark move and was promptly hit with electricity. I yelped as I flew back and hissed at Raticate, firing a Thunderbolt at the rat.

Raticate were never known to have high health, so when Raticate fainted, I heard cheers immediately from the crowds. _"Champion Red has defeated Trainer Joey! It was a good battle, well done, both of you! This ends our trainer's competition! Tomorrow morning at nine a.m., the Gym Leader Tournament will begin! Non-stop back to back to back battles with the final match at six p.m.! On Wednesday Champion Red, along with many others, will participate in the Champion's World Tournament with the first match at nine a.m.! We hope to see you there!"_

Joey was smiling brightly, waving to the cheering crowds as I jumped back up onto the platform with Red, tired and hurting and he carried me immediately. He looked at my tail, gently getting rid of the singed hair for me as we walked to the machine in the waiting room to heal myself, Charizard and Espeon. He briefly placed me into my pokéball, in order to use it, the only time I would honestly tolerate the thing and once I felt my wounds healed, I was released. I stretched and Red smiled, scratching my head before I jumped down to walk beside his feet.

He turned around as Blue, Ethan and his mother walked in but received an unconventional tackle from Deerling on his chest, causing him to tumble to the ground. Ethan laughed hard enough to hold his sides and Blue groaned, while his mother giggled as Red gave a quiet groan, sitting up soon. _"I wanna be awesome like you guys!" _she shouted, circling Red as he got back up to his feet.

"_Well, first you probably need to stop tackling Red, he probably doesn't like it,"_ I mentioned, and she paused, tilting her head. _"Well, if you do tackle him, not so hard he falls down. How about that?"_

She brightened instantly and nodded. _"Okay!"_

"That was a good battle, told you he'd squash 'em," Ethan said suddenly and Blue shrugged.

"Not surprised, but I am surprised _Joey_ of all people beat all those other trainers. Maybe some of them made stupid mistakes." He looked at Red. "Joey's a trainer from Johto, very attached to his Raticate and kept going about how cool his shorts were."

Red blinked and I knew the same thing was going through my mind. What a weird kid.

Blue smiled as Red finally shrugged. "Moving on, White was there, I saw her in the crowd so she should be coming here soon, Black was with her. I can safely assume that they've moved on from their argument. It is kind of weird that he called her in the middle of the night."

Red frowned briefly, obviously reminded of our own last night. I wondered if he had told any of the other humans, but his mother looked at him in concern when he simply looked at me. "Sweetie? Are you okay?" she asked and he nodded once. She didn't fully believe him but she seemed satisfied. "Well, if any of you are hungry, because I know I am, I can make you boys a home cooked meal at the hotel!"

Ethan smiled. "That sounds awesome! I'm tired of going out to eat and eating gross hotel food!"

"The food isn't bad, Ethan," Blue said.

"No, but it's boring and bland!"

"Salt and pepper are always available there."

"Doesn't mean meals still won't taste boring."

Red's mother laughed at them, then stated, "You two fight like an old married couple!"

"Hey!" the two retorted in unison and Red cracked a smile, heading for the door.

He opened it but stumbled slightly as White ran right into him, still moving like she was trying to open the door. She squeaked loudly and took a step back, trying to hide the very pink blush on her face. "Sorry, Red! I didn't mean to run into you!" she said however I heard laughter from beside her. "Shut up, Black!"

"No, I won't! You ran right into y—" came the start of a response but it was quickly muffled by White's hand.

"Her favorite color is purple!" Blue suddenly shouted the moment he heard her brother.

Black came into view from behind his sister, looking amused and grinned as he looked at Blue and then at White as he pushed her hand off of his jaw. "What? Really? Purple?"

"_Blue!"_

"I told you I'd tell him! Not my fault for not believing me."

Poor Deerling was so confused, staying beside Red and me, tilting her head from side to side. _"What's going on? Why are they arguing so much? Do they not like each other?"_ she asked me.

"_It's not that they don't like each other, they do, but they get into friendly arguments all the time. Especially Blue and Ethan."_

She still seemed confused but accepted the answer with a nod, looking as White smiled and knelt to her level. "Aren't you a cute little Deerling? What're you doing with these gross boys?" she asked and Deerling giggled, looking up as she tried telling her that she _'saw the most amazing battle ever-_er_ and wanted to fight like Charizard does.' _Her childhood crush was silly but also a little cute.

Red's mother was smiling. "I was going to go back to the hotel to make these boys dinner. I don't mind making more for you two if you would like to join us," she offered.

Black smiled as well. "That sounds awesome, I'm in!" he said and White nodded in agreement.

"As rowdy as these three are, they're actually really fun to hang out with," she responded.

"Explain the gross part then," Ethan challenged.

"What? Boys are gross."

"That explains a lot."

"Very detailed answer, isn't it?" Black added.

I could hear Red sigh loudly as we walked out as the bickering continued.

X-X-X

Before we went to the hotel, Red and I tried parting with Deerling, though she convinced her father to spend the night with us, and Red rubbed his own head as the excited young pokemon jumped up and down with glee. Then Sawsbuck followed us to the hotel, confirming that he was also staying with us tonight.

Besides that, dinner was very delicious, Red's mother had made a stir fry complete with soy sauce, egg, bacon, green onions and carrots, and I was sure there were other spices thrown in as well. Red himself had two bowls of the rice, while I had my own. Completely stuffed, we returned to our room for the night though he looked completely exhausted, the dark circles nearly black by now as he flopped into bed at eight, not even bothering with his shoes. Two hours of sleep would do that to you, I guess.

Finally he gave a deep sigh and kicked his shoes off and at least changed into his night shirt before I released the team from their pokéballs. Espeon jumped up onto the bed, smiling as Red yawned, fully intending to go straight to sleep. _"Red, you can stay awake for a few minutes, right?"_ she asked hopefully and he made a complaining sound before finally sitting up, blinking sleepily like Snorlax would. _"Not even a minute. We all just wanted to say that you're allowed to date if you want to."_

_Arceus, not this again. Go to sleep if you don't want to go into your pokéballs,_ was his instant irritated thought as he flopped back down into the sheets. I heard Deerling snicker.

"_Seriously! You're allowed to! That doesn't mean anything?"_ She pawed at him and he sighed, at least rolling onto his back so he could see us.

"_You do need more friends, plus you've already made friends with Black and White, why not Rosa and Nate, or even the other champions too?"_ Blastoise added.

"_And us!"_ Deerling shouted and Sawsbuck nodded once.

Red groaned, rubbing his face with both hands. _I have plenty of friends, I'm not unhappy, and I'm doing just fine without anyone else,_ he replied stubbornly. He had said this at least a thousand times by now to us. _Can we drop it and just go to sleep now? I'm about to pass out anyway._

Espeon sighed sadly, turning the lights off with her abilities. I looked at Deerling and Sawsbuck, seeing the larger of the two watch Red with a bit of concern but said nothing as he noticed Deerling wander over to Charizard, tucking herself into his belly. Charizard snorted once, getting up to try and move, though she only followed. Eventually he gave up when she dug herself into his side, keeping warm until she eventually drifted off into sleep after staring at the fire on his tail for so long.

I heard Red give off soft snores from inside the sheets not even five minutes later, and I smiled a little. At least he was resting but I shook my head before looking at Sawsbuck. _"Does he not have many friends?" _he asked curiously.

I shook my head. _"Not really. We all wish he had more, but it's just that he is fine around wild pokemon and he doesn't trust other humans at all,"_ I explained.

Sawsbuck thought for a moment. _"Hm. That would only happen if he went through something. Was he like this before he was a trainer?"_

I shrugged. _"I know he has always been quiet. He's always been nice but… I guess he was more open to other people before we went on our journey. We're just trying to get him to be more sociable again. We're trying to show him that not everyone is Team Rocket, not everyone is out there trying to hurt us or others."_

Sawsbuck was frowning by now. _"I understand why he is hesitant then. This type of thing takes time, one cannot force that onto others. You can help him, but if you keep shoving it into his face like what I saw tonight, he will only close himself from others, and eventually his closest friends and family will be but a memory."_

I stirred uneasily and looked at the sleeping lump in the bed and glanced back at Sawsbuck. _"Then how can I help him? He won't listen to me most of the time about this."_

"_Encourage him to go to a friend's house, who also has a friend or two over. Eventually, he will be comfortable in a social gathering, like a party or to a busy mall."_ He smiled kindly. _"Do not fret over him so much. He may be young still, but he does have a sense of independence, does he not?"_

Meaning the wandering was his strong sense of independence. I guess I understood it, and thinking about it now, we _had_ been shoving everything down his throat. _"Wandering can be dangerous though."_

"_But so can loneliness and ignorance of a human's feelings."_ He yawned and placed his head on the floor up against his stomach._ "Get some rest, you have a battle in a few days, more than one I hope. It is best not to lose sleep for the next couple of days."_

I watched as he closed his eyes and fell silent, the only noises now were the soft hum of the refrigerator and Red's quiet snores. As I curled up into Red's side, I stared at the blanket before coming to the conclusion that Sawsbuck was much like Red's mother, and he was right. Things like that do take time and even the power of Arceus couldn't heal everything instantly.

X-X-X


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Look! A new POV!

* * *

_7_

_Espeon_

It seems such a long time ago that I met Red, a young boy that was full of energy and curiousness, and I was just a normal pet for a normal family. I had never intended to become a battling pokemon, much less evolve into what I am today. To be honest, I was scared. I had no idea where I was going, and even Pikachu couldn't calm me down when I learned I was to become a part of a fighting team. My old owner would never do such a thing with me! The first time I was called to a battle with Red, I froze and had no idea what to do. Shaking like a leaf, I was too timid to even avoid a simple Tackle from a Rattata.

In order to avoid myself getting hurt, he sent Wartortle to finish the battle against a youngster and when it was over, I was surprised he wasn't angry. Instead he encouraged me to gain more confidence in myself, first by helping me learn my own moves and then training with Pikachu, Charizard, Wartortle and Ivysaur. He had never doubted me even when I constantly doubted myself and my abilities. I thought such a small pokemon like myself could go nowhere in the world, especially one considered to be treated as a pet at all times.

Granted, the pet life isn't bad at all. You were always pampered in a way battling or working pokemon weren't, and the fatter you got the cuter you were to humans. After two months of training with my new team, I found that I didn't want to go back to that life. I didn't want to have all day every day with nothing to do. Yes, it was nice to be pet and paid attention to, but for every single waking moment? To me, I hadn't had a purpose in life before joining Red. I saw the benefits of being such an active pokemon: I had more energy to do so much more than I couldn't have done before, I was able to travel to new places and meet different people and pokemon but most of all, I got to form my own family.

Sure, all seven of us were completely different species and we each had our own personalities, hobbies, strengths, weaknesses and pet peeves, but we were inseparable. Every time someone in the family was having a hard time with something, we would do our best to cheer them up and help them get better. This most definitely included our human, who always took care of us and would pull all-nighters if one of us was sick just to make sure we got better but as of late he was the one who wasn't doing so well. He was too stubborn to admit that anything was wrong and held too much pride to talk to anyone about everything, not even to us.

He'd always been like that though but no matter how many times he was told it was unhealthy to keep feelings bottled up for so long, he would keep everything to himself and it was slowly eating him away. For example, even if he and Blue would get into a battle over an argument, he would have been excited, smiling at least once during a battle. Recently, he hasn't gotten that spark, the thrill of a battle. He didn't find joy in battling anymore. When we had fought Joey, he wasn't even fully concentrated on any form of strategy. Charizard would have lasted longer in the battle if he had paid attention. The fire type _should_ have been more than enough to handle the entire team. Had he been concentrating, he would have demolished Joey in that battle with a single pokemon.

We could all tell he was still distracted by the one-sided conversation with Giovanni the other night during the battle, and it bothered him enough to trigger the nightmares again that night. He would never admit that he would need to talk to someone about them, I highly doubt that his mother ever knew about them and he wasn't the kind of person to let her worry about such things; she worried about him enough as it was.

The only humans who knew about them were Blue and perhaps Ethan, though I doubted the latter knew much about them. Blue only found out about the nightmares when he had wandered up to Mount Silver for a visit a few years after the championship match. Something must have triggered certain memories to cause the nightmares to come back and Blue had woken Red up in the middle of the night. It was also the first and only time I'd ever seen my trainer cry.

So when I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling him begin to move a little in his sleep, I knew the dreamless sleep he'd had was abruptly ending with another one of the nightmares. Usually, the dreams would come in spurts, sometimes only one night, sometimes for a few days and only twice they had come for at least a month each.

When they first started, I was overjoyed to learn that there was a TM out there in the world that I could use to help our trainer and it just so happened Red had the device in his backpack, among many other items. However there was one major flaw to my plan: I couldn't learn Dream Eater unless I evolved. No matter how many times I clicked on that button with my little paw, the move just wouldn't imprint itself into my brain and I cried when I found out. My crying at least woke Red up and free from the dream, he was once again trying to help comfort me from my own misery. Snorlax was the one who told me that there were two different evolutions I could take to help him: one would be the dark-type Umbreon, where I could learn moves such as Confuse Ray and Assurance. The other choice was Espeon, where I could learn to communicate directly with my trainer and that alone outweighed any possibility of becoming Umbreon.

Once I made my decision, I was dead set on battling only during the morning and daytime, confusing my trainer greatly but he didn't object when I would jump out of my pokéball and take the place of whoever's pokéball he had in his hand or shoving Pikachu out of the way. I had evolved into Espeon just after we earned our eighth and final gym badge, and as overjoyed as I was to have evolved, I still needed to teach myself Dream Eater as soon as I could. The final battle against Giovanni hadn't been a horrible one, not nearly as bad as Saffron or even Celadon City, but with the way the two were battling against each other, it was just to overpower the other, and we came out on top just barely.

We didn't even stay in the pokemon center that night, Red decided to keep moving towards Victory Road that very same night. We were halfway there when he finally decided to stop for the night, unable to keep his own eyes open for much longer. Once he had fallen asleep, I took the TM and taught myself Dream Eater while Charizard let himself out of his pokéball to share his warmth, engulfing the troubled boy into his wings and didn't even let him out of his sight for the entire night and most of the morning until he woke up.

I promptly used the new move I had learned on our trainer as weak as I possibly could, smiling to myself when I heard Charizard give a grumble of approval. I can only assume that Red had fallen into a deeper slumber, horrible dreams forgotten as he caught up on much needed sleep. I was happy I could finally do something for him instead of being just another pokemon on a battling team.

After all of this, I can say that I was genuinely upset when Red practically crumpled up any advice we wanted to give him and threw it away into an invisible trash can. I realize he was irritated at our constant pushing, but he did not understand the utter importance of what he was doing to himself. I suppose it was just the rebellious teenage years, thinking he could take on the world by himself and still live to tell the tale, unchanging throughout the process.

I will willingly admit to eavesdropping on Pikachu and Sawbuck's conversation that night, I wanted to hear someone else's opinion of the matter. Sawsbuck was far wiser than I had made him out to be. I was the last one to admit that he was right, that if we kept pushing this onto Red, he would just keep doing what he had been doing to our advice or suggestions.

However, I fully intended to keep his schedule as wide open as possible tomorrow. Operation: Get A Date was in full effect by midnight that Tuesday.

X-X-X

Red hadn't set an alarm that morning, and Snorlax greatly appreciated being able to do what he did best: sleep in until nearly noon. Our trainer was being lazy that morning, he had a nearly thirteen hours of sleep including one hour of tossing and turning to decide whether he really wanted to get up or not. I had woken up by six in the morning, trying to plan out the open day ahead. Neither Blue nor Ethan had come by, Sawsbuck and Deerling had left for the day and promised to return tomorrow to watch our first battle while Red's mother was off on a wine tour with her two new best friends Cynthia and Diantha.

I refused to go into my own pokéball that day, and Pikachu was even confused but didn't mind the company as he walked beside Red and I downstairs and out towards the open field behind the hotel. I knew he wanted to train, we barely got any in ever since we had arrived at Unova but upon hearing a familiar battle cry, I was overjoyed to see a certain long-haired brunette battling against her brother. I noticed her face glow a slight pink as soon as she noticed us from the corner of her eye, but refused to turn towards Red as she ordered Serperior to use Leaf Blade against a strange blue pokemon with an extremely sharp horn on its head.

I could tell before the attack hit that it was a water type and as soon as the pokemon fainted, Black was pouting. "No fair," he whined. "You always pick Serperior."

"Then stop picking Samurott and I'll stop picking Serperior!" she retorted.

"Well, you're scared of Cofagrigus, and since I'm such a caring brother I never pick him or Braviary!"

Red rose a brow, listening to siblings squabble and heal their pokemon. Without meaning to, I heard him think, _They're just like Ethan and Blue, I swear._

"Galvantula is just fine though!"

"Yea, 'cause he stands yay high!" He motioned with his hand the short height the pokemon would be.

Black suddenly blinked and turned his head towards us and smiled, waving. "Hey, Red!" he called and White also waved as Serperior simply nodded towards Pikachu and I. I sensed the mischievousness coming off of Black, and I got the feeling he knew something we didn't and only added to the suspicion when he suddenly declared quickly and in a single breath, "Samurott and I are gonna go somewhere else and train and probably get some breakfast so I'll see you two later today, bye!"

White shot a glare towards her brother's back as he sprinted away towards the city. "Black! Black, get back here you stupid, lazy bum!" she shouted but it was pointless, he was already gone. With a sigh and a blush, she seemed to realize she was alone with Red though she didn't do anything for a moment, leaving it awkwardly silent for a nearly full minute before mustering the courage to turn towards the other trainer.

Red had given Serperior a poffin, who delightfully took it and my trainer gave a small smile as he gave the teenager his full trust, going so far as to nudge his hand for another. White rubbed her head as she watched and coughed once to catch their attention. "So… um… Red, what are you up to today?" she asked and blushed as he shrugged, turning his attention back to Serperior.

Oh, Arceus, this was definitely going to be harder than planned. Pikachu turned to me, walking on two legs as he headed for the benches. _"I knew that it wouldn't be easy,"_ he said. _"Let me know when they finally decide to go out somewhere."_

I rolled my eyes at him and sat down, looking up at the humans with my full attention as they remained standing there in silence and stared at each other. Finally irritated, I knew this would go nowhere unless I did or said something. I glanced at White as she reached for Serperior's pokéball and watched as she mysteriously tripped over thin air, forcing Red to catch her. "Gah! I'm so sorry! We seem to do this a lot, right?" White suddenly stammered and gave a nervous laugh as Serperior shot daggers into me.

I was smiling calmly at him as Pikachu laughed hard in the back. _"Don't give me that look, you and I both know that it was getting irritating that they weren't doing anything,"_ I told him as he finally rolled his eyes and let White return him.

"So… um, Red, I know you don't talk much, but… um, Black actually suggested this. He… he said…" Her face was turning a beautiful shade of ripe tomato, and Red's face twisted with sudden confusion when she started fiddling her thumbs. Were human boys seriously this dull when it came to any form of attraction?

White took a deep breath and finally blurted too fast for any human or pokemon to understand, "HesaidifIlikeyousomuchIshouldaskyououtonadatebutIdon't—" _is she even breathing?_ "—knowifIshouldbecausewhatifyoudon'tlikemesoIdon'tknowwhattodo."

She gasped and Red blinked a few times as he tried to comprehend what in the world she tried to say before he started to laugh, the rather unexpected sound startling the girl.

She blushed again when he finally stopped, a smile still on his face as she grew frustrated, mostly with herself. "I-I'm sorry, I know I should slow down but… but Black gave me the idea last night. He said if… if I l-liked you so much, we should do something... um, you know… together." She gulped as the blush returned. "H-he kinda figured that out a long time ago. I'm sorry, this is really hard."

Red was still puzzled, tilting his head slightly to the right as he tried to understand what she was saying.

Her hands fell apart during his silence, trying to rid herself of the nervousness that controlled her. "Are you hungry? I'm hungry. Like, starving hungry. Enough to eat an entire bouffalant. Let's go to lunch. Or breakfast. Whatever it is, I know a good place here, and it isn't really that expensive."

Red was staring at her before he finally realized she was asking him on a date and a blush of his own replaced his normal color while I was smiling brightly. Finally! I was starting to think he wasn't that intelligent at all. Pikachu was still shocked silent, then finally tilted his head. _"I have no idea what she said before,"_ he told me and I let out a soft laugh.

"_It's best if you try not to pay attention. She was flustered, and still is probably. She is still very nervous and for good reason,"_ I replied. _"Besides, this puts a seriously amazing jumpstart on OGAD."_

Pikachu blinked slowly. _"OGAD?"_

"_Operation: Get A Date, silly."_

He promptly rolled his eyes.

I turned my head towards the two trainers as Red finally gave a single nod at White. She smiled so brightly, I was sure her face would nearly break before she blushed again. "Really? I-I mean, if you don't want to it's okay, but you really, really will?"

He nodded again but through the smile he sent an uneasy thought that I heard clearly, _Did you put her up to this, Espeon? This is an awfully convenient time for her to invite me to breakfast._

I shook my head, a little excited that he seemed to be at least a little excited. _"No. I'm not going to push you anymore."_ I couldn't forget Sawsbuck's words._ "This is all up to you and her now. I swear it."_

He seemed to hesitate and nodded a final time before following White. _All right…_ His tone was suddenly uncertain as he walked._ But… what exactly am I supposed to do?_

"_You've never had a date before?"_

He refrained from looking at me as his hand twitched anxiously._ In case you've forgotten, ten-year-olds don't go on dates._

"_Then why not when you grew older?"_

_We were on a mountain peak to train or visiting Mom._

I sighed at him. Leave it to him for pathetic excuses. _"Just do what you want to do and act normal. Don't be pushy about anything either, and at least say a few words to her. She was happy when you laughed."_

He smiled a little at me and nodded as Pikachu and I followed them.

As they were distracted with White talking away to fill the void of silence, I sent the psychic message to Ethan and Blue's teams, _"OGAD is underway, keep Blue and Ethan away at all costs!"_

There was a brief silence before someone replied. _"Do you honestly think we'll be able to keep Blue away from Red?"_ said an uninterested Machamp.

"_You make it sound like it's some ultra important mission,"_ Scizor mentioned.

Togetic was quick to respond with, _"It is! Red is getting his very first date!"_

"_This is such a good thing! None of us thought it would happen this fast!"_ Pidgeot's excited voice said.

"_If it's so important, how will we keep Ethan away from Red today?"_ asked Ursaring. _"He's very pushy."_

"_And Blue too? He's been telling us he wants to have a mock battle,"_ Gyarados added.

"_Just keep them in their rooms if you can,"_ I said and cut off the connection as we neared the central plaza of the city.

White finally stopped at a restaurant called _Flapjack Central_ and Red opened the door, holding it open for myself, Pikachu and White. Upon entering, the overwhelming scent of syrup hit my noise and I couldn't help but to feel excited. I would say I smelled waffle more than pancake, though Pikachu would tell me that pancakes tasted better. To each their own, I suppose.

The waiters allowed myself and Pikachu to remain out of our pokéballs as long as we didn't cause a ruckus, and obediently we sat down on either side of Red's side of the benched seats, myself being against the wall. White was blushing nearly the entire time as she read the menu, then finally spoke up with, "The house scramble is really good. So are their pancakes, they're to die for."

Red stared at the menu a little longer before he nodded once, setting it down as Pikachu pointed to a picture with a fruit bowl and I smiled. Always looking out for Red's health, Pikachu would continuously make sure he ate some form of fruit and vegetable every day. He looked at me as I told him just some fruit for myself would be fine as well. White watched our exchanges with a smile, then finally looked up at Red. "How do they know what you're saying if you don't say anything?" she asked curiously and he blinked then shrugged. "Is it like how I know what you're saying without you speaking?" He smiled a little and nodded once, which only made her blush again. "W-well… not technically the same I guess."

I was surprised Red was as calm as he was, I thought he would be just as nervous as White, however all I sensed from him was his natural calm demeanor and focus on the smallest details. There was a heavy air of uncertainty about him, though. He still had no idea what to do even as a waiter came up to take their order. He simply pointed to the fruit bowls and held up three fingers, then towards the house scramble that White had suggested.

After White ordered her own food, she looked at Red. "So, usually when people have a meal together they talk about themselves. Oh! And although we may be doing this now, don't think I won't go easy on you during the tournament."

That was finally something that caught Red's interest, who narrowed his eyes in a challenge, giving a slight grin as she returned the challenging smirk. "We're both champions, and although I don't run around and brag about it, I can be a tough opponent. The double battle doesn't count, Ethan was hindering me, Ursaring was too slow."

He rose a brow.

"Well, I guess Blue did too. I shouldn't have picked Serperior though." She smiled and looked at Pikachu. "But I know just the pokemon who is as fast as you!"

Pikachu blinked up at her, Red's straw in his mouth as he drank some of the water. She giggled as Pikachu looked up at Red. The little mouse acted just like Red sometimes—completely clueless about his surroundings and constantly getting into mischief or trouble.

White changed the subjected as she flicked her gaze back towards the other human. "But is your real name Red? It's not like me and Black, with our aliases."

Red nodded.

"What about Blue?"

He gave another nod.

"Man, your parents must've been on something when they named you."

Red smiled, shrugging to tell her he didn't mind and scratched Pikachu's head to make him let go of the straw.

"Well, do you have anything to ask me? Like I said before, normal people talk about themselves, what they do and what they've done, what they like to do, what their favorite color is, yadda, yadda." She smiled. "Ask me anything! Don't be shy!"

Red was silent for a while and I was a little afraid he'd lost his voice before he finally nodded to himself, looking at White. "Why do you call yourself White? I think Hilda is just fine," he said and blinked when her face turned pink again.

"Well… it's just… I don't know, it's just something silly. I've never really liked my name, so I decided to call myself White instead after… um…" Her face flushed in embarrassment and she gave another nervous giggle. "It was after Black and I watched a match on T.V. It was a championship match all the way from Kanto, so we decided to name ourselves after colors too before we went on our journeys." She twiddled her fingers again as he nodded, a knowing look coming to his face. "Ask me something else!"

He smiled and that mischief returned to his crimson eyes. "Why do you keep blushing?"

So he _had _noticed! My shoulders relaxed when I realized that I can say I was proud of him for not being the typical human male.

With that said, Whites face turned bright red again and she tried hiding it with a two handed face-palm and tried ignoring Red's laughter. I was just happy that someone could make him laugh so much within thirty minutes, especially from someone other than Blue.

"Shut up! Arceus, you're just like Black!"

She too was smiling but the furious blush finally faded as the food came and I faintly heard her stomach growl in response. Both teenagers ate ravenously and while Red was a normally quiet person, his table manners could use some work and I stole a glance towards White; judging by the chomping noises coming from her side of the table, it was possible this was also White's first meal of the day.

As they ate, my tail twitched and caused alarm to flare rapidly as I looked outside when I sensed two very familiar presences. _"Pikachu, we need to distract Blue and Ethan now! Before they get inside and know they're here!"_ I said and abandoned my food as I slid out from the table. Even if he was on two legs and still eating a slide of an apple, at least Pikachu was following me out the door.

I opened the door with my psychic power and noticed from the corner of my eye Red and White looking at us both in pure and innocent confusion, though Red quickly caught on and narrowed his eyes alongside a rather loud thought that I caught, _Don't you dare leave me alone with her!_

I only smiled at him and ran out to greet Blue and Ethan before they rounded the corner. Ethan jumped when he saw me leap in front of them and Blue looked confused to see Pikachu and I without our trainer.

"Where's Red?" he asked and Pikachu nearly pointed towards the restaurant, but with one death glare from myself, he pointed the other direction. Ethan looked towards the dead-end street while Blue just crossed his arms across his chest. "Why are all you pokemon acting so strange all of a sudden? Pidgeot was excited about something, Arcanine wanted to go for a run—well, that's normal I guess. Even Gyarados was blocking the door and Jolteon didn't shock him."

"Well, at least you weren't manhandled by a giant Ursaring to stay inside the hotel room all morning," Ethan whined and rubbed his right arm. "It's like they wanted to keep us away from each other for some reason!"

Blue nodded and looked at us again. "So you are a psychic. Tell us what is going on." I shook my head and he groaned immediately. "We will get to the bottom of this. Let's go, Ethan." He took a step towards the restaurant, the complete opposite of what Pikachu pointed.

Pikachu panicked slightly and jumped in front of them, waving his paws at them to try and get them to stop. "Pika, pikachu pika!" he said to them, pointing towards the dead-end again.

"Yeah, you'll point one way, we'll go the other, you aren't a very good liar, Pikachu," Ethan said with a grin.

Pikachu gave me a hopeless look as they walked past us and I rolled my eyes as I heard them mysteriously trip just as White had earlier. I grinned as I heard them yelp in shock and I was soon sitting in front of them as they pushed themselves up to their elbows and knees. _"Pikachu said that Red is that way. He's being swarmed by pokemon again, after all. Heard that it's a bunch of bug pokemon that feast on human flesh."_

While Pikachu smacked his face with his own paw at the obviously not true statement, Blue frowned at me, seeing straight through my lie as Ethan turned his head towards the forest with a little concern etched into his face. He was always easy to fool. "Yeah, then if that is the case, why are you two so desperate to stop us from coming this way?" Blue stood up again, looking rather annoyed. I find a bit of mischievous joy finding all sorts of things to annoy the tall boy. "This is ridiculous, Espeon."

"_Then maybe you should have stayed in your rooms today and this wouldn't be happening."_

Ethan suddenly narrowed his eyes at me as something clicked in his mind. He then pointed at me and yelled, "You're the one who made Ursaring hold me hostage?! Do you know how uncomfortable that was?!"

"_Please lower our voice, you'll make yourself look like an idiot."_ I promptly ignored Ethan's objecting sputtering._ "However, it was not my intention for him to do so. I will apologize on his behalf."_ I got onto all four of my own paws, getting ready to head back_. "It is best you both return now. Red is currently occupied at the moment, and it is very top-secret."_

"_Super-top secret,"_ Pikachu added with a nod at the humans.

Ethan groaned and took Blue's offered hand to help him back up, brushing the dust and dirt off of his pants. "Fine. We'll leave him alone for now," the golden-eyed boy said.

Blue nodded in agreement. "But don't think we won't figure out what's going on. Super-top secret or not," he added with a look towards Pikachu as he smiled innocently up at them and waved as they turned around and went the opposite way. I made sure they were gone before we headed back towards Flapjack Central_._

"_That was close. Too close," _Pikachu muttered. _"But why is it so bad for them to at least know he's on a sudden date?"_

"_It's not our place to tell them what is going on in Red's personal life. They don't need to know every single detail, as clingy as they are. If Red feels comfortable, he will tell them himself,"_ I replied calmly, opening the door again to head for the booth that held White and Red, who were nearly done with their meals by now.

Red gave me a quizzical look and I only smiled at him as I slid back into my seat beside him. White looked confused as well but giggled. "Maybe they just wanted to go for a walk?"

I nodded as Red patted the fur on my head. "Espe!" I said out loud and munched on the nearest grape in my bowl.

X-X-X

Red and White left the restaurant almost fifteen minutes later, completely stuffed and eighteen pokedollars and thirty-four cents poorer, but happy. White had at least stopped blushing half-way through a walk back to the hotel where she intended to spend the rest of the day with her brother, saying something about calling a friend. We parted when we reached the doors and Red stood there as she walked back inside and he looked at me. _Is that what a date is?_

"_A date can be anything. If there is a next time, you should ask her to see a movie or go on a picnic together."_

_I don't think I'm up for anything cheesy like that._

"_It isn't cheesy, it's romantic!"_

_You act just like Daisy sometimes._

I smiled and shrugged as he led us through the city towards a familiar beach hidden between mossy rocks. Once there, however, we noticed it wasn't empty and instead Blue was standing on Gyarados, trying to stay balanced on the slippery scales on the water. Red rose a brow at the odd behavior and Blue only shrugged with a simple answer of, "Balancing." Red rolled his eyes as he leaned against the rocky cave entrance. "Oh, Ethan and I were looking for you earlier, by the way. I don't know what is going on, but all of our pokemon were acting really weird this morning, and that includes Pikachu and Espeon." He looked at us two with suspicious eyes and jumped off of Gyarados' back to land in the sand.

Red tilted his head questioningly and looked at us two while Pikachu simply jumped onto Red's shoulder in a single leap.

"Weird meaning they didn't want us to leave our rooms."

Red immediately shot an accusing look at me, and I smiled as innocently as I could as I heard his annoyed thoughts, _What did you do this time?_

I shook my head and licked my paw. _"I did nothing. I just told the others to keep Blue and Ethan away from you for a while today. That's all. OGAD is in full effect."_

His face twisted in confusion just as much as Blue's, and he looked between us. "What in Arceus' name is OGAD?" Red shook his head, still looking at me.

"_That is something for you to figure out."_

"See?! Weird, right?"

Red nodded in agreement then knelt down to my level. _What is OGAD?_

Without hesitation, I cut off the connection to Blue, set my paw back down and looked at him straight in his red irises to reply calmly, _"Operation: Get A Date. We thought of it a while ago, actually."_

His face was pink instantly. "What," he blurted out loud with a dead-panned tone.

Blue blinked. "What, what?"

Red looked up at him and then at me again, ignoring him for the moment.

I went on, _"Now that I think about it though, I wouldn't necessarily call breakfast at a local diner with two pokemon a date though. She didn't call it a date, she only asked you to attend a meal with her."_

_You're the one who _just_ said it _was_ a date! Isn't that considered to be a date?_

"_I say a date would be when it is planned in advance. At least a day. Alone, undisturbed as you prance around in joyous harmony—"_

_What are you talking about?! You even told me what to do during a date! That's not fair—_

"_I may have told you what to do, but I didn't call it a date, per se."_

"What's going on?" an irritated Blue said, though we both continued to ignore him.

"_Also, it is very fair. OGAD is still incomplete. The mission will not close until final processing."_

_What in Arceus' name are you going on about now?_

"_You'll figure it out. You are smart, Red."_

"Can someone please elaborate and tell me what the hell you two are arguing about?" Blue demanded.

I could tell Red was frustrated with me, but I wouldn't tell him the mission wouldn't be over until the two most stubborn humans in the world admitted their feelings for each other, no matter how many dates they would have. He would eventually figure that out but until then, I decided we needed to train for the upcoming battles tomorrow.

X-X-X

Red decided to drill us almost cruelly today, perhaps because he was upset with me or maybe he was nervous about tomorrow, but either way—to put it simply—it sucked. He didn't let us over exert ourselves as usual, but he pushed us to our limits but the good thing was that every time we trainer, he was right there with us training. His mind was still stuck on something but it wasn't nearly as bad as before.

For the next few hours, I was constantly practicing various moves, using my psychic power to move larger and larger objects, gritting my teeth near the end. When we were finally done, Snorlax immediately flopped to the ground, complaining about being tired and I nearly mirrored him, panting as Red wiped sweat from his brow until Venusaur his eyes flicked towards the trees suddenly. Red and I followed his gaze and a frown was instantly on our trainer's face when I saw a strange red and black pokemon run off when it knew it was spotted.

I also knew it was a dark type if I couldn't sense it. Red was in a hurry to leave then and grabbed five pokéballs to recall all but Pikachu. It gave me a chance to rest but instead I was concentrating on trying to figure out why a pokemon like that would just run off when it knew we saw it and why Red didn't seem to be comfortable with staying there any longer.

When I was released next, we were in the hotel room and Pikachu was pushing the button to shrink the pokéballs one more time. Red was in the shower and I sighed as I sat on the bed. _"What was that pokemon?"_ I asked and Pikachu shrugged.

"_It looked like a steel type, it had sharp silver blades on its hands,"_ Blastoise mentioned. _"But why are you worrying about it? It could've been a wild pokemon."_

I frowned. _"Wild pokemon don't just run away when a human looks at them."_

"_I would have,"_ Pikachu added.

Charizard was frowning as he listened, glancing at Snorlax as he tapped his claws on his belly. _"It sounds like a Pawniard, or a Bisharp,"_ he said simply.

"_How would you know that?"_ Venusaur asked curiously.

"_I'm not just a lazy pokemon. I'm a smart lazy pokemon."_ I rolled my eyes.

"_Then why would it run away?"_

He shrugged, yawning. _"Maybe it was curious about us."_

"_Stop worrying about it and go to sleep, I'm exhausted,"_ Blastoise added with a large yawn. I wondered briefly if he and Snorlax switched places.

"_It's only, like five. Why are you this tired?"_ I asked and he snorted.

I didn't receive an answer as he simply disappeared inside his shell and remained there. As he snoozed away, Red was coming out of the shower, flopping onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Pikachu watched him and soon went to sit beside his head and twitched his ears. "Pika?"

Red blinked and smiled, scratching his head as he returned to staring into the distance.

"_I think I know what he's thinking about," _I said cheerfully and Venusaur rolled his eyes. _"What? I think it's cute! He's daydreaming about White!"_

"_Hopefully he won't let his daydreaming distract him tomorrow like yesterday,"_ Charizard grumbled quietly.

Red sat up after a bit and looked outside when he saw the sun starting to set and stretched with a soft groan, blinking when he heard a knock at the door. Sensing his mother behind the door, I didn't bother to stop him as he opened it and was immediately smothered into a tight hug inside the room. I kept the door open using Psychic, I didn't want the door to smash into Red's face was all.

Besides, it was always great seeing this wonderful lady embarrass her son. His mother's face was slightly tinged pink and she bore a huge grin, looking rather relaxed. "Oh, that was wonderful!" she said. "So many wines to choose from, all from Unova! We should come here more often, Red, Unova has an excellent brewery nearby—"

"—Mom, what—" Red tried but gave up when she kept talking.

"—But I couldn't just pick one, so I bought three bottles! The girls and I will celebrate after the tournament is over though."

He blinked and looked up, only now noticing the two tall ladies standing near the doorway. He waved meekly at them, looking embarrassed already.

"You know, I tell this kid to clean his room and look, he still doesn't do it. Even Blastoise tries to get him to clean."

Red instantly blushed and if given the chance, I knew he would hide his face as the two women, I believe their names were Cynthia and Diantha, snickered from outside the door.

"Don't mind us, we were all going to our rooms, but she wanted to come tell you she was back," Diantha explained as Red nodded once at her, then looked at his mother as she smiled at him.

"Did I tell you about the story of Machoke Man?"

"Mom, please don't," Red instantly begged, causing the ladies to laugh hard at his reaction. It was clear by now they had a little too much to drink on the tour, and I smiled as Red's mother decided to continue to embarrass him in front of the other two champions.

"And he was also obsessed over Digging with Diglett?"

"Oh, but that's such a cute kid's show, isn't it?" Cynthia added.

"Or that his favorite pokemon was Clefairy?"

"Out!" Red said, flustered as the women laughed and went upstairs loudly.

He groaned and rubbed his face and shot a glare at the team as most of us laughed with his mother and the champions. After closing the door, he shook his head, going to pull his shoes, vest and hat on. He looked at me and I shook my head as he grabbed the other pokéballs, recalling the rest of the team while Pikachu climbed onto his shoulder again.

As we ate dinner in the dining hall that night, Red seemed to be going over battles in his mind, the look of full concentration on his face as he stared at his half-full plate, and flinched as a tray landed on either side of him. "You're easy to scare," Ethan teased with a grin as Red scowled. "What are you doing anyway? We called your name a few times and you were just staring at your food."

Blue smiled as he put a pea in his mouth. "Probably going over ways to beat us again, right?" Red nodded as Blue laughed. "Thought so. You're also easy to predict."

"Just not in battle."

"Only 'cause you fall for the same thing every time."

"I do not!"

"Do too!"

Red narrowed his eyes at them and not wanting to risk getting another Thundershock, both stopped their argument to begin eating. "I saw your mom come inside with Cynthia and Diantha, by the way. I think she was drunk," Blue stated and Red groaned, nodding once and Blue grinned. "Did she start telling them stories?"

"More than one, I hope!" Ethan added with a smile of his own.

As soon as White arrived in the dining hall, however, she abandoned her brother to sit at the table with us, letting him wander off to sit with Iris, Rosa and Nate. "Your mom is really, really nice. She told me you used to run around outside with just your underwear on and a blanket to pretend you were flying," she said and Red groaned again, this time loudly as he dropped the fork to rub his face. She laughed with Blue and Ethan. "She said like three times that you used to call yourself Machoke Man or something, too."

_Arceus, Mom will never let that up, will she?_

"_Nope. But we all think it's a good story,"_ I answered and he rolled his eyes.

As Blue, Ethan and White talked amongst themselves, I felt the slight change in his mind, causing me to blink. _What was that pokemon earlier? It was watching us. I know it's been bothering you too._

"_Snorlax says it might have been a Pawniard or Bisharp, whatever those are. Ask White to see her pokedex, maybe she will have them in there."_

He glanced at me and then at White, who stopped talking to blink as he asked seriously, "Can I see your pokedex?"

"My pokedex? Um… sure, I guess."

Blue was staring at Red with disbelief, shocked he would say even one word to someone he barely knew. Ethan was likewise startled but he said nothing about it as White handed Red the pokedex.

"Can I ask why do you need it?"

Red stopped at an entry and handed it back to White as she blinked at it. Ethan leaned over. "Bisharp? What about it?" he asked and looked at Red as he frowned, looking at me as I nodded once. "What? Hey, Red, where are you going?"

Red had gotten up and left his tray while Pikachu and I followed him out the door with Blue running after him with Ethan not too far behind. "Red, what happened? You usually don't act like this unless something happened," Blue said as Ethan stopped beside them.

"_There was a pokemon that was watching us train," _I explained for him as White came over as well and naturally her brother followed with concern. _"We didn't know what it was, but now we know it was a Bisharp. Evolved form of a Pawniard."_

"Why would it watch you?" Ethan asked and Black frowned deeply and looked at White.

"Probably because of us," she said softly and we all looked at her with confusion.

"Because of you two?" Blue wondered.

White was frowning, her face dead serious as she shifted uncomfortably.

Black was the one who spoke up. "Have you ever heard of Team Plasma?"

X-X-X


	8. Chapter 8

_8_

_Pikachu_

Everyone and everything has its own fair share of problems out there in the world. We, including the rest of the people of Kanto, thought that at first Team Rocket was nothing but a nuisance, always showing up randomly for no reason. There would be the occasional news story about a member stealing something for rare fossils, or breaking and entering a few houses, but the nuisance soon became a problem when we discovered their secret base of operations in Celadon City. We thought the problem couldn't get worse, but the problem quickly became a tragedy for Saffron City, starting with basically holding the city hostage. After that incident, they were defeated and they fell rapidly from there.

Unova's problem was clearly Team Plasma, whoever they were. When first mentioned, Blue, Red and Ethan all had blank faces, clueless as they looked between each other and shook their heads before looking at the siblings one more time. None of us knew who they were, we'd never even heard of Team Plasma before, so as they looked at Black and White again, I took my normal spot on Red's shoulder to see the human's confused reactions and to better listen what they were telling each other.

"Team Plasma?" Ethan asked curiously. "Who are they? What happened?"

Black and White looked at each other for a moment, disbelief obvious in their faces and finally White sighed and explained, "So, when we first started on our journey, there was this guy named Ghetsis that was speaking to people in Accumula Town. He was trying to convince people to let their pokemon go, free them and they would be happy, something along those lines. So long story short, he was the leader of Team Plasma and the only reason why he wanted people to let their pokemon go was for him to have total control over Unova."

I rolled my eyes. That sounded so original. From the corner of my eye, I saw Red smirk slightly, quite possibly thinking the same thing, and patted my head.

"He also has an adopted son," Black continued, frowning. "His name is N. He has a special ability to 'hear' what pokemon are actually saying. Without the use of a psychic around."

Red blinked and looked at Espeon, who stirred uneasily at the thought as her ears flicked once. A human understanding us by themselves was a little disturbing and I'm certain Espeon didn't like the idea of another psychic human of any kind. Sabrina was creepy enough and after that intriguing experience, I'm happy Red wasn't in any way, shape or form telekinetic.

"So where are you going with this?" Blue asked impatiently. "What does Team Plasma have to do with you and a pokemon watching Red train on a beach?"

I nodded as well, looking at the siblings expectantly. I really wanted to know why as well and I felt Red tense a bit in his own anxiousness.

Between the questions, I heard Espeon cough, eyeing me as she told me quietly, _"White's eye candy."_

I rolled my eyes at her and she shrugged, remaining silent as she listened.

"Getting there!" White retorted. "So, basically, N — while he isn't a bad looking guy, and really green hair, and the fact that he left Team Plasma after discovering what Ghetsis was planning — he can still be kind of creepy. He has zero social skills, probably not worse than Red though—" Red huffed and I grinned at him; it was completely true no matter how much he denied that obvious fact, "—and we both know for a fact he wanted to be best friends with us. Before he left, he would send the Shadow Trio to use their annoying pokemon spies to watch Black and I on our journey," she added bitterly. "They're creepy too, by the way. He never really understood that friendship doesn't mean spying on them."

"Plus, when we battled the last time, I think he was staring at White the entire time instead of our battle itself," Black said, ignoring White's instant furious face. "She was losing her temper at the time because she was too frustrated to say anything. Come to think of it, Cheren and Alder had to hold her back from literally running to him and punching him."

White huffed. "Shut up, Black!"

"They probably sent out that Bisharp that watched you train today," Black added, looking at Red and I and completely ignoring his sister. "It is possible they just want to know more about the other champions from different regions. Another might be because they saw how much time you and White spend together by yourselves and they want to know you more and they might send some to watch Ethan and Blue, too."

Ethan looked at Red with a mischievous glint in his eyes, to which Red returned it with a scowl even as he elbowed the taller boy in the side. "Oh-ho! Alone time? Ow!" he cried, receiving a whip-like hit on his calf from Espeon's tail. I completely believe he deserved it. The other humans ignored us for a moment as Black continued.

"Oh, and by the way, Ghetsis went crazy after that. We stopped him and he disappeared after that."

"He went crazy?" Blue interrupted.

White nodded. "Woobat shit crazy. Team Plasma tried coming back as Neo Team Plasma but they also failed at the whole world domination thing. Ghetsis tried killing Rosa using Kyurem, which is a little much if you had to ask." I felt Red shudder a little. It wasn't news that Giovanni tried killing us a long time ago as well and I patted his shoulder in sympathy as well as to get his mind off of the past.

"What's Kyurem?" Ethan asked and Black shrugged.

"Kyurem is a legendary pokemon, a dragon and ice type," he replied.

Blue whistled. "That's something I would like to see." I would too. The legendary pokemon weren't called legendary for nothing, after all and if we ever got the chance to battle this Kyurem, it would be a challenge worth waiting for.

"Well, if you ask Nate or Rosa, I'm sure that they'll let you see it."

"Let us see it?" Ethan asked inquisitively, an excited look on his face. "You mean they became friends with it or something?"

As curious as I was, I decided to ignore him to keep listening to White and Black. "Anyway, Nate said that the Shadow Triad still fully believed that N was still their king and they were looking for him on their journey, and I'm certain that they still think they are their king's ninjas or whatever," White said, shrugging with a nonchalant stance however I think Red forgot how to breathe and I knew exactly why.

The gravely low voice of Giovanni repeated in our minds and I'm certain Espeon was the one who repeated to us with her abilities and her near-perfect memory instead of my own, _"…I was visited by a trio who claimed to be their king's right-hand men just now. I have a feeling that will not be the last time we hear of them."_

What a wonderfully eventful night this was turning out to be.

Red looked at Espeon and I, then frowned again in quiet thought before turning his eyes back to the others when they stared at him, noticing his strange and silent behavior. Blue was concerned, putting a hand on his empty shoulder to catch his attention. "Red? Are you all right? And I don't want to hear it from Espeon, either," he said and Espeon huffed, puffing her chest out. It was obvious she wanted to bite his ankles but decided against it as Red took a hesitated breath.

"No," he finally said but the others frowned when no other explanation was given.

"If you're scared it's okay," Ethan said sincerely, truly worried.

"It's not that." Red shook his head, picking me up off of his shoulder to hold me in his arms. If he had nothing else to do with his hands, he always had to find something to fight off worry and nervousness, and both feelings were pouring off of him steadily with a river of confusion.

"Then what happened?"

White looked worried, looking at her brother with a perplexed face, who shook his own head quietly as he waited for an answer.

When Red didn't say anything for a while and the frown returned alongside distant eyes, Blue seemed to recognize the look Red subconsciously gave and answered for him, "Giovanni?" Red nodded and looked at Blue as he cursed loudly. "Arceus damn him… What did he do this time?"

"Nothing," my trainer said as he used one hand to scratch my belly fur. Blue blinked, confused and Red gave a quiet groan, not wanting to say anything more than he had to already. "He came to my room a few nights ago to warn me of people who asked Team Rocket to join their cause. He said they claimed to be their 'king's right-hand men.'"

"But… Team Rocket's gone, disbanded," Ethan replied. "I got rid of their attempt to come back in Johto, and Giovanni wasn't even there."

"And we haven't heard from them since," Blue added before looking at the confused Black and White.

"What's Team Rocket?" Black asked.

"Who's Giovanni?" White said.

"Tell you later," Blue answered instead of explaining, looking at Ethan as he rubbed his head.

"Hey! We told you what Team Plasma is, and even went into specifics, so you should at least tell us who Team Rocket is!" she retorted immediately, her hands in tight, angered fists.

"We'll tell you about it later!" Blue looked at Red as he completely ignored White's rapidly rising temper.

I rolled my eyes at them as she and Blue started to argue but I looked up at Red as he took a breath. "Where is N?" he asked Black and the Unova trainer tapped his chin in thought.

"I think he's still in his castle. That's near Victory Road though, plus he's only there half the time now, why?"

White suddenly stopped and shook her head, turning away from Blue. "He's not there," she said and Black looked at her with a blink. "I actually saw him the day before the tournament near White Forest; he said he wanted to watch the tournament so I think he could be in town somewhere."

Ethan blinked. "You think he'd know more about this, Red?" My trainer nodded. "So that settles it, we need to look for N!"

White nodded and looked at us before nudging Black with her elbow. "He's difficult to find. But I'm sure Black will be able to find him. But since Reshiram isn't with him anymore, it's going to be even more difficult."

"Well, that isn't the only way to find someone in a big city you know," her brother dead-panned. "We could be, you know, civilized people and look ourselves."

"What's Reshiram?" Blue asked.

Black opened his mouth to answer but White slammed the palm of her hand against it to quiet him. "We won't tell you since you won't tell us who Team Rocket are!"

"Not fair!"

"You started it!"

Red looked at me as the two glared at each other and before he gave the command, I sent a Thundershock at them to calm them a bit down. "Gah! Red, you have got to stop doing that!" Blue said, running a hand through his hair.

Ethan was laughing alongside Black, both holding their sides and I smiled up at them innocently while Red rose a brow at him as White huffed once but looked around instead. "So… I guess we should start looking. I mean, he could be anywhere. I also think we should split up," she added and looked at Black as he nodded.

"All you said was that he has green hair. Look for someone with green hair could mean Cilan too, you know," Ethan said with a bored look.

"_Long_ green hair, white shirt with tan pants, used to wear a black and white hat but not anymore," Black replied quickly. "You'll figure it out since he's a little awkward socially. Or if you're lucky, he'll come right up to you. I'd suggest taking a pokemon out so that way he'll come right to you. And… don't freak out when he starts talking to said pokemon." Honestly, if he hadn't told me that, I think I would have freaked out anyway.

The task sounded easy enough, but as the humans separated from each other, White looked at Red and I and I could see there was some worry on her face. When we were alone she said in a tone far too gentle for her temperamental self, "Be careful, Red. N may not look it, but he is a powerful trainer. He defeated Alder with no problems so he is champion material, but he was never recognized as one."

Red frowned a little and nodded at her. "You too," he told her and started walking quickly. I waved at White and ran after my trainer, feeling White's cautious eyes on us until we disappeared around the corner.

X-X-X

Now, looking for someone we've never seen before in our lives with a vague description of what the guy looks like was much easier said than done. To top it all off, Red and I found ourselves in the midst of a festival near the stadium after nearly an hour and a half of searching most of the dark streets in the city. It was so full of people, I could barely tell which scent was what and Red looked completely uncomfortable in such a large group of people as we walked around. Luckily, most people didn't recognize us perhaps because we simply weren't the locals or even native to Unova.

With so many people running around celebrating the fact that their favorite trainers were battling over the course of the week, it was also difficult to tell if there were any unwanted presences in the surrounding areas. I was perched on the top of my trainer's head, looking around for any strange pokemon staring at us while my trainer looked for the 'guy with green hair' and I knew he was just as frustrated with this as I was as time went by. I sighed loudly; this was turning out to be more difficult than it should have been.

Red also sighed with mild annoyance, pinching the bridge of his nose then turned his eyes up towards me as I tapped his head. "Pika." I pointed and he looked over towards a hill that was near the edge of the festival, but at least it would give us a view of everyone in this place.

Red trudged up the hill with ease, finally turning around and took a deep breath. It was an amazing view—we could see every single light, strings of smaller lights crossing the different stands and games that were set up all around the platform. The lights in between the benches that faced the ocean were also dimly lit, a few of the benches with couples or friends having fun there as well.

I turned my eyes back in front of us, seeing a familiar young lady started heading up the hill with difficulty while we watched with amusement. White was out of breath as she finally came to stand beside us and I saw Red smirk as she finally took a deep breath and said, "You could have at least offered to help me up the rest of the way."

Red shrugged, looking back out at the many different activities and crowds ahead of us.

"I couldn't find N anywhere in the city, and I'm sure Black, Blue and Ethan are still looking somewhere. Well, knowing Black he might've given up and gone back to the hotel by now."

That sounded like something Ethan would do as well, and I knew Red thought the same as he nodded once.

"So I can safely assume that you've had no luck either? I thought you would've gone back to the hotel by now as well." As much as I wanted to, Red was stubborn and wanted answers as quickly as he could get them. Actually, he was way too stubborn for his own good.

He shook his head and looked at her as she finally caught her breath, straightening her back to look up at him with a bright smile on her face. He stood at least a head taller than she did, but she looked happy despite the height difference.

"Well, if we can't find N, then I'm sure we'll see him tomorrow at some point during the matches. I think us two should have some fun before the tournament starts! This festival is only for two nights: the pre-celebration and then the after-party, so let's make the best of it."

"Wha—?" was all my trainer could say.

"Come on!"

She grabbed his hand so suddenly, he blushed brightly and stumbled a little when she pulled and I smiled as I jumped off of his head as White led the way down the steep hill and back into the crowds. I happily followed, making sure to stay right on their feet to avoid getting accidentally stepped on by other humans or larger pokemon that weren't paying attention. Seriously though, being this small sucked sometimes. Having your tail stepped on, especially by fully grown humans, that hurt like a mother f—

"So what do you want to do first?" White asked once we were in the middle of the games area and interrupting my thoughts.

Red looked around, looking a little uncomfortable, scanning each face that passed by. "Shouldn't we be looking for N?" he asked quietly and she scoffed at him with a roll of her eyes.

"You're a stubbornly hard worker," she replied. Finally! At least someone other than Blue agreed with me. "You need to learn to live a little. You don't have to work all the time, and besides, like I said, N will come to us later. Trust me, he always does."

She smiled at him as he thought about it and finally gave in with a nod to her delight.

I stayed with them the entire time, making sure none of us got separated and kept begging Red to let me have some of those treats that were on display. White laughed and said she wanted to see me eat a churro just to see a hyper Pikachu and Red instantly shook his head. Last time I got a hold of sugar, there were lots of expenses Red paid and we were kicked out of a pokemon center. Another story for another time.

I jumped onto my trainer's shoulder, grinning as he awkwardly took a ring for a game and allowed White to pick me up so Red could concentrate. My smile only grew bigger when he failed miserably on the first try and somehow shattered three bottles with the second toss, causing even the game keeper to laugh heartily. He was wiping tears as he gave Red a prize anyhow, simply as a thanks for making him laugh so hard.

White giggled as he took it and she thanked the man as we walked away. "Here," Red said suddenly and pushed the toy to her, making her blink as I squirmed out of her arms to jump onto the ground.

Finally she blushed and took the toy with steady hands, though I was grinning when I sensed their nervousness, both hiding it under masks of calm. "Thank you! Do you know what this pokemon is?" she asked and Red blinked, shaking his head once. "It's a Duckling, the super cute flying type. Don't tell Mandibuzz I said that." Duly noted.

The next two hours passed by quickly and even though Red seemed to be blind to it, White was nervous the entire time, though she was having fun. As soon as the people finally started to notice and recognize who we were, we left the festival to head back for the hotel. White smiled as she looked up at Red, holding the Duckling doll in her arms tightly. "Thank you, Red. I had fun. And this little guy is going to be on my nightstand," she said happily.

He nodded in response, smiling at her excitement.

We eventually reached the hotel again, most of the windows dark with a few scattered rooms that still had lights on. White stopped at the entrance to the courtyard and turned to Red, making him blink. "I had a lot of fun," she repeated.

He blushed and finally smiled with a nod. Finally he opened his mouth and even to me, he sounded a bit nervous as he said, "Do you think we can do this again? Well, not this exactly. As… a real date?"

She blushed a little and nodded, growing nervous herself. "Y-yes! I think we definitely should!" She smiled brightly and nearly threw herself into him, hugging him as he stumbled back a step from the sudden impact. Finally he smiled again as she let go quickly, her face flushed a little with embarrassment. "O-oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" She huffed as he laughed a little. "What's so funny?!" Ah, there was the White we all knew.

His smile remained, and being the Red that I knew, I noticed his eyes were filled with mischief. "You're cute when you're flustered."

She blushed brightly, her face turning the shade of a tomato. "N-no I'm not!"

"Denial is the first step to realizing the truth." He looked satisfied as she blinked, trying to understand it but chose to give him a playful scowl instead.

"No it isn't!"

He crossed his arms across his chest, daring her to keep talking. I rolled my eyes at him, but I was amused at their banter enough to the point where I wanted popcorn and a comfy seat. I decided to get comfortable, sitting down between them and looking back and forth at whoever was speaking at the time. "So tell me what is," Red replied simply, grinning.

"You're talking an awful lot all of a sudden."

He rose a brow. "And you're changing the subject all of a sudden."

"You can't use my words against me!"

"Says who?"

"Says me!"

"Mm." Red looked like he was having a good time with the silly argument, finding a small joy to pushing her buttons as White grew more frustrated. I think Ethan was rubbing off on him a little too much.

"Don't you 'mm' me! You're on a roll, Mr. Talkative!"

"Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?"

She narrowed her eyes, but she was struggling not to smile, trying to keep up an act. "Oh, no, not at all. I'm completely serious. You talk way too much, quiet down over there!"

They were silent for a moment before she suddenly burst into laughter, holding her sides as Red chuckled alongside her, shaking his head. I guess the show was over and I smiled at them, seeing White calm down soon. "Thank you. I needed that," she said and hugged him again, this time without the tackle.

He was the one who blushed this time, but he said nothing about it as he hugged back. I looked behind, a little startled that I hadn't even noticed Blue leaning against the wall, watching with a raised brow. "You two already sound like an old married couple," he said loudly.

Both of them jumped, let go of each other quickly and flew nearly five feet apart so quickly, I was sure one of them would have tripped and fallen though they both remained upright as White looked at Blue with a death glare and Red's eyes were narrowed with annoyance. I laughed alongside Blue at their reactions, holding my sides and fell onto my back. "That wasn't funny!" she snapped at him as he got off the wall.

"Yes it was!"

"How long were you standing there?!"

"Long enough, nosy."

White blushed again as Red tried to hide his own and watched as Blue wandered towards us. "We were all wondering where you two ran off. Ethan said something about you two spending a lot of alone time together."

"We've only been alone three or four times," White answered, crossing her arms.

"And have you kissed her yet?" Blue asked Red, causing his face to turn to his namesake color.

"Blue!" White shouted. "W-we haven't done anything like that yet!"

"Key word: yet." He lost the smile, making the other two calm down while I jumped back onto Red's shoulder with ease. "Black came back with N. He was wandering the river with Deerling and Sawsbuck, actually. We were all waiting for you in his room, come on." He turned around and led the way as Red and White followed closely.

They were silent as they walked through the main hall but didn't go up the stairs, instead heading for the left hall and stopped at the second door, knocking once to let the inhabitants know we were here and opened it. "Hey, I found them," Blue said and led the way in followed by White and finally myself and Red.

Ethan was sitting on the couch with Togetic in his lap and feeding her berries, though he smiled at us once we were in, and Black was beside him. In another chair was, surprisingly enough, Rosa and Nate was sitting at the table with a young man, maybe as old as Red and Blue were. I knew this was N, bright tea green hair loosely tied to the back of his head and looked up as soon as he spotted us. Deerling was also there, fast asleep by his feet while Sawsbuck was nowhere to be found.

I stirred uneasily on Red's shoulder as he stood and smiled kindly at us. "This is N," Black said as he sat down at the table across from Nate. "N, this is Red and Pikachu."

"Hello," he replied simply.

Red gave a simple nod while Ethan stood, holding Togetic in his arms. Togetic waved at me and I returned the gesture as Red sat down in a chair next to White.

"I heard you are being watched by the Shadow Triad," N said calmly and Red frowned with a slight nod.

"Yes, and Alakazam said that he sensed a strange presence when we were training earlier as well," Blue replied. "He said it was likely a dark-type pokemon, he couldn't pinpoint the location."

Well, that was news.

N tapped the table once with a finger. "It is likely then all of you are being watched."

"_Obviously,"_ I couldn't help but mutter to myself.

"_Oh, be nice to him, Pikachu,"_ Togetic scolded.

"_What? I'm not being mean!"_

"_No, but you're being rude."_

"Obvious or not, you two should help keep an eye out for anything suspicious when you go and train," N interrupted.

It took me a moment to realize it had been N who spoke and not some invisible pokemon hiding in the room. I knew I visibly flinched and ignored Togetic's amused chuckle. _"Holy Arceus, you can really understand us?!"_

N blinked and kept his face blank, free of emotion. "Yes."

"_Don't worry, I had a similar reaction,"_ Togetic said.

I looked at Red, who looked confused but said nothing.

"Tomorrow is the first day of the champion's matches," Nate said. "The Shadow Triad will probably hide in the crowd and watch our battles, but it's not likely that any of them will be doing anything."

"Ghetsis is smart, he won't be stupid enough to attack an entire stadium with the world's champions in one place anyway," Black added.

"What do they want anyway?" Rosa asked, though no one really had an answer for that.

"I don't know," N replied. "But you told them that Giovanni was visited by the Shadow Triad?" Red nodded once. "It is a little disturbing. Maybe we should ask him some more details—maybe they have come to see him again."

I huffed. _"That's not something we should do," _I told him and N blinked, looking at me. _"Giovanni isn't the kind of person who'll tell anyone anything. Besides, when he told us about what happened, he tried to call before he came to our room. If he's been visited, he's the kind of person to call at 3:48 in the morning."_ I was still annoyed by that, I liked my beauty sleep.

"Well, then I supposed we can just wait then."

Ethan sighed. "This talking to pokemon thing is something I'm never going to get used to," he mumbled, mostly to himself but I agreed with Ethan for the first time in history. Well, maybe not the first, now that I think about it. "Can you translate?"

N nodded. "Pikachu said Giovanni called before he went to see them. So we can wait for another phone call, I suppose."

White clapped her hands. "So Blue, since we have to wait for a call, this the later where you can explain who Team Rocket is!" Blue rolled his eyes at her.

"Only the biggest crime syndicate in Kanto and Johto," Ethan answered.

Blue sat up a bit, resting his arms on the table. "Look, it's kind of a touchy subject, even for me. I don't know a lot of details, but basically Team Rocket was a group of criminals that had the most cliché goal in the world."

"World domination?" Nate asked.

"Bingo. But they didn't go around and ask for people to let their pokemon go. They started out stealing trainer's pokemon, then they quickly progressed to kidnappings, murder and took over Saffron City. Saffron City is home to Silph Co. HQ, and we both went in there to try and get rid of the head honcho, which was Giovanni. Now, I went in there first, so I don't know what Red saw, but he was absolutely livid. My pokemon were all exhausted but he pushed forward. I helped free a lot of the pokemon they wanted to experiment on, but then Red blew up the building."

"You blew up Silph Co.?!" Rosa exclaimed and Red sighed softly with a roll of his eyes.

"At least I never blew up a building," Nate added.

"_It wasn't our fault!"_ I exclaimed.

N looked disturbed, though, stirring uneasily in his seat. "Then why would Team Plasma want to team up with Team Rocket? This is very troubling."

"There isn't much we can do," Black replied and tapped his chin thoughtfully. "If we thought you were hard to find, the Shadow Triad are practically invisible."

White looked at N and asked, "You think you can call them over and ask them what the hell's going on?"

N shook his head and hesitated before answering. "Maybe. They might listen to me still, however they answer only to Ghetsis as far as I know. But if I can get a chance, I will do my best."

Rosa looked at Red, grinning at him. "And you just watch out for a potential phone call. Easy, right?"

"_No, not really."_ I looked at Red as he remained silent as ever, sighing quietly again.

The sound of a chair scraping on the floor caught my attention and I saw N standing up. "Well, I wish you all the best of luck in the tournament tomorrow," N said with a smile. "I'll be watching in…" He pulled out a ticket from his breast pocket, squinting slightly. "Section E, row thirty-four, seat seven."

"You need to get glasses, don't you?" White asked.

"No, my eyesight is fine."

Ethan flashed a smile instead. "And I'll kick all of your asses!" he proclaimed and Red looked at him with a face that said, _"Really?"_

"Oh yea, Johto boy? You're on!" Nate retorted, their friendly rivalry sparking instantly.

White spun to Black and Rosa, her eyes slightly narrowed. "And neither of you are allowed to use Reshiram or Zekrom!" she declared.

"And who says I can't?!" Black retorted. "You?"

"And Red, right?"

Red blinked, looking between them and then at me as I shrugged. He stood and smiled as White called for him, then huffed when he didn't give her an answer. "Fine, fine. I'm going to my room and I'm not coming out until tomorrow. Good luck, y'all need it!" she said and smiled as she exited the room.

The others exited shortly as well until N put a hand on Red's shoulder to stop him from leaving just yet. Red looked at him with a slight frown. "I see how happy she is when she's around you," he said quietly. "She was never like that around me. So just keep her happy and don't hurt her." Red blinked again but nodded once before leaving.

We entered our room shortly and Red set me down onto the bed to release the rest of the team and stretched, taking off his hat, shoes and jacket. Finally he set his head against the pillows, staring at the roof for the longest time until Espeon stuck her face in his and practically demanded attention from him. Such a typical cat pokemon to do so; I've seen Meowth and Persian do that to their humans as well. Even Mew was like that.

She purred loudly as he scratched her ears, and when he yawned, I looked at Venusaur as he used a vine to flip the lights off, the only light in the room now was Charizard's flaming tail. At least it also kept the room nice and toasty. By the time we were all comfortable, I grinned to myself and glanced towards the lump on the other side of Red. _"By the way, White and Red almost kissed today. I think they would have if Blue didn't interrupt,"_ I said and heard Espeon sigh.

"_Typical. Either he or Ethan have to do something,"_ she mumbled and looked at Red, nudging him with a paw. He opened his eyes, the red in his irises practically glowing in the dim lighting. _"Tomorrow night you kiss White, got it?"_

He blinked. _Why?_

"_Because, that's why."_

_People don't kiss each other on the first meeting._

"_Some people do."_

_I'm not them. And besides, I already asked her out on a date._

"_You what?!"_

She suddenly grew excited, jumping onto his stomach hard enough to cough and give a loud, "Oof!"

"_Oh, here we go,"_ Snorlax said, listening intently now. I sat beside them, blinking at Espeon's antics.

_That hurt._

"_Sorry, but not really sorry,"_ Espeon said quickly. _"So, details, spill!"_

He sighed and sat up, pushing her off of his stomach. _Went to a carnival to look for N, gave up, played some games, came back, I asked her on a date, she said yes, the end. Happy?_

"_No."_

_What more do you want?_

"_First of all, how did you look and was she expecting anything else?"_

_Huh? No comment._

"_Smart,"_ I said and smiled as Espeon rolled her eyes at us. _"Oh, but they were arguing like they've known each other for their entire lives! It was movie-worthy."_

Red crossed his arms.

"_I'm listening now,"_ Blastoise said, looking interested as well. Even Charizard had his eyes on us.

"_What kind of argument?"_ Espeon asked me.

"_It wasn't really an argument, more like friendly bantering."_

"_Well, that's good!"_

_Why are you all still awake?_ Red's voice said/thought. I'm never really sure how to describe his voice being transferred through Espeon. Sometimes it sounds like he's really talking, other times it's just there. _We have a long day ahead of us, and I want you all to be in tip top shape. We are fighting champions tomorrow, not regular trainers._

"_And it's exciting!"_ Blastoise said, grinning as Venusaur nodded in agreement.

_That means it's time to go to sleep instead of talking about my dating life now._ Espeon pouted but she finally obeyed and curled up beside him, her head resting on an extra pillow as Red pulled the covers up to his shoulders. The glowing gem receded, though she smiled anyway.

"_I'm proud of him," _she said softly, her voice drifting off as she slowly fell to sleep.

She wasn't the only one.

X-X-X


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** I've gotten a couple of questions so here's some review responses to questions.

**fluffpenguin:** I would have to guess Cynthia and Diantha are maybe, at most, eighr or nine years older than Red. Maybe ten, give or take a few months.

**ec-direwolf:** The rosters for a character's team are based off of the pokemon you can find in-game (special events like Ethan/Lyra with Sudowoodo in HG/SS or Brendan/May and Kecleon). With the rest of the empty spots, I chose other pokemon that I felt they would have picked or just the ones I particularly like (like Galvantual and Reunclius).

If anyone has any other questions, feel free to leave it in the reviews or send me a PM my way.

* * *

_9_

_Charizard_

Humans held many strange and fascinating views of pokemon trainers. The more powerful they were, the more useful and respected they were. The beginner trainer held neither respect nor authority amongst both humans and pokemon—tame or wild—and the younger the trainer, the harder they had to work for it. The more they and their team progressed together, the more people would look to follow their examples and eventually want to become just like them.

We were no different. We weren't looked upon at first, quite possibly because simply, Red was young. The people believed a ten-year-old boy could not defeat all eight gyms and the champion within a year.

When I joined the team, he was already beginning to turn heads, unwanted attention beginning to follow the boy wonder. We proved to the entire world that they shouldn't judge a book by its cover, that we were more powerful than most. The moment we defeated Team Rocket, all eyes were upon us especially during the Elite Four and Championship matches. Who knew that one, let alone two kids could defeat Lance, who had been reigning as champion for nearly six years could be defeated by two kids from a small town?

Many would say things about my team, how our trainer didn't have the strongest breeds of pokemon or even why he didn't have much variation in the team. Even though we were all different types, many of our foes were surprised whenever we would so easily take them down. Each of us were different, and after some time of watching humans and pokemon alike began trying to assume what each of our personalities were and what status we were held at in the team.

Pikachu was known as the leader, the quickest of the group that held magnificent power in that small body. He could take down foes hundreds of times larger than he without wasting a breath and even used his tail to help him jump to heights that could still even startle our trainer. He was usually never seen inside his pokeball unless he was knocked out, in which case Red usually carried him in his arm if it was not an official battle.

Blastoise was the shield, able to take the most hits in a battle without falling therefore making him the perfect defense in any double battle. His Iron Defense only made his thick shell even stronger. He was also the 'motherly' one, often caring for us when we became ill or injured and was a stickler for cleanliness.

Snorlax could hold his own in battle and often shock opponents at how quick and strong this normally placid and lazy pokemon is. He was a natural at quick thinking, which helped him evade near-fatal moves more than once. When we were on our adventures, Red would often use him as a blanket and pillow and both could sleep all day if we let them.

Espeon was the most obvious: she was the most intelligent but also the most mysterious. Her personality could switch from being a cuddling pokemon from her days as a pet to a fierce competitor at a moment's notice. She was the most mischievous one, often getting others in trouble from her many antics and outrageous plans and if she was ever caught, she would somehow rope the rest of us into the blame.

Venusaur was the graceful one despite his large size. Every move he used was something to look at, he never used a move he felt would be a waste of energy and time. His many combinations in battle made him a worthy adversary to any powerful fire- or ice-type and expressed interest in contests upon occasion.

It came as no surprise that I was the silent one, often compared to our trainer with our lack of talking aloud. When need be, though, I was able to quiet anyone with a single roar and my aerial attacks and speed in the air were unmatched.

Our trainer was the stubborn glue that held us all together, helping us perfect strategies and even teaching us how to use two separate moves at once when the situation called for it. He would help us get back up when we were down and he was always there when we needed him. We weren't just a team; we were a family and even though Red caught all the pokemon he could from Kanto, he never switched his team, instead giving them to Professor Oak for his studies. Both believed in the potential in each and every single one. This was no different for Pikachu, Eevee, Squirtle, Snorlax and Bulbasaur.

Much like they had been before, I was a weak pokemon—a young Charmander that decided it was smart enough to leave the nest a little early though hardly able to take on a single Oddish. My previous trainer, although he tried his hardest, simply could not help me train to the level I wanted to be and as such I refused to listen to any command given by him. My hopes were not high after that, I thought I would never reach a level that would surpass anyone else.

Since I didn't have any respect for him, I decided he should at least prove himself a capable trainer. That was not the case. One sunny day, he gave my pokéball to Red, who was delighted to have a fire type on the team.

I naively assumed that, because of my previous human, this human would also be weak compared to all the other pokemon trainers out there in the world. Red was frustrated at first that I would not listen to him, hardly even look at him but he refused to give up on me even after the consistent use of Scratch (Pikachu and Bulbasaur didn't particularly enjoy that). The first time I heard him speak was him simply asking for me to trust him.

"_Charmander,"_ he told me, _"I know you don't like me. I know you want to get stronger. In order to do that, I need you to listen to me. I need you to trust me."_

Despite my arrogant stance and my paws crossed across my chest, I finally looked at him straight in the eyes for the first time ever since joining his team almost a month ago. The fiery determination was there and silently told me that everything would be all right and that he wouldn't leave me behind. Afterwards, the rest pretty much worked itself out. He would not accept defeat even in the face of a losing battle. He would turn it around with quick thinking even at his young age, guiding not only myself but the rest of the team to defeat any opponent. When I won my first battle—against a Graveler of all things—I astounded even myself. How could I, a weak fire-type pokemon defeat a Graveler in my first battle with my new trainer?

I could only stare at Red as he walked and gave me his 'good job' smile and led the way through the dirt path. As I watched him walk past me, I knew I saw something. It was a strange feeling of hope and the sight itself was something I would never forget: it was as if a great light had been cast right in front of him and he was fearlessly walking towards it, towards our goal to become champion. He stopped, turning from the light to face me.

"_If you believe in yourself, then you can move forward and if you can move forward, then you can achieve your dreams."_

I knew this trainer was going to be one that would be revered among many and my eyes widened in sudden respect and loyalty.

He offered his hand to me, still smiling confidently and I fearlessly took it.

X-X-X

It was nearly three in the morning when I sensed something was wrong with my trainer. Like I had felt so many times before, I roused from my slumber and watched as Espeon also woke up, though the gem on her head was glowing a little, taking away whatever nightmare our trainer was having away with an extremely weak Dream Eater. She sighed when she was finished and he relaxed a little and the grip on his blankets loosened. _"Another nightmare,"_ she told me softly, knowing I was the only one awake. _"This is the third time tonight. If this keeps up, I doubt he will be able to focus enough to win this competition."_

I grumbled something quietly, remembering the previous battle I had. Yes, Joey's pokemon were strong, but they were not strong enough for me. I felt partly responsible for fainting in the first place, I knew I should have just gone with my gut instincts and used Fly to get above the Sandstorm Tyranitar had been creating. Pikachu even recognized that I could have demolished the entire team. Whatever had been going through Red's mind, it was not on the battle that day and it made us all worry that we wouldn't be strong enough to defeat a multitude of champions this week.

"_In a few hours, the tournament starts and whoever we fight first will be primed and ready to battle. If it is Lance, Ethan or Blue, then we are lucky and we know how they work." _She got up, jumping off of the bed gently and sat down in front of me. _"Why do you battle?"_ she suddenly asked. _"I battle because if I did not, I would be a fat, lazy Eevee with too much time on my hands."_

_And no one would want that,_ I mused to myself and snorted instead at her as she curled her split tail around her legs.

"_So? Why do you battle?"_

I didn't even have to think about it since I knew exactly why. But I had to wonder why she was asking me this odd question but I lifted my head up off the ground to look at her better to answer anyway, _"To get stronger—"_

"_No, it isn't."_

I stopped and blinked once at her. How she possibly know why I battle? How could that not be my reason? I narrowed my eyes, though she did not move.

"_You do not battle to get more powerful. You do not battle because it makes you happy. What is your real reason?"_

"_Why can't it be to get stronger?"_

"_You are already strong. You are stronger than most pokemon we fight. You know this. So why?"_

For once, I really didn't know what to say. It had always been about getting stronger, to become better than everyone else. For that not to be my reason made me try and think of another reason, but it was difficult for myself to think of one. We continued to stare at each other in silence and finally I was the one who looked away, unsure of the answer as I looked at my claws.

She seemed to smile, getting up again onto her own four paws. _"You don't battle for yourself. You don't battle to become more powerful."_ She turned her head and I followed her gaze, which was resting on the snoring lump in the bed that was Red. _"You fight to protect. He is also family, so you fight to protect him."_ She rolled her eyes as Pikachu rolled onto his other side in his sleep, burying himself underneath Red's chin. She looked back at me and I watched Red sleep a little more before turning back to Espeon again as she got up on all four paws. _"He believes in you, we all do. Once you realize this yourself, I am certain that Red will realize it and we will win the tournament."_

With that, she jumped back up onto the bed, leaving me to wonder why she had even come to talk to me at all. I watched her curl up beside our trainer again and within moments, she was asleep again. I stared at my claws again and sighed before closing my eyes to sleep again.

It wasn't to last, however.

Not even ten minutes after I'd closed my eyes and started dozing, I heard the shrilling ringtone come out of nowhere, waking everyone up including our trainer. Red groaned loudly, but remembering their talks from earlier in the night, he sat up and took the noisy little pokegear. Frowning at the small screen, he remained sitting up as he answered it without a greeting. "Most people would announce to the caller that they have answered the phone," came Giovanni's voice, sounding annoyed himself.

Red frowned deeply, not saying anything but at least Giovanni didn't usually have small talk with anyone.

"The Shadow Triad visited again. They warned me to stay away from the stadium during tomorrow's matches."

Pikachu looked startled just as well as Red and the gem on Espeon's head glowed a bit as she translated the talking to Red as Pikachu said, _"N said they wouldn't attack the stadium during the matches, there were too many champions all in one place—"_

"_But there are lots of innocent people to barter with,"_ Snorlax replied, flexing his claws.

I looked at the pokegear again. "Whatever they plan on doing, even gym leaders will be there to watch the matches and support their regions," Giovanni's voice continued. "There are going to be a lot of people. I will be in attendance as I was third place in the Gym Leader's tournament."

Red's grip on the pokegear tightened and I was slightly afraid that any tighter, he would break it. Not only would he be in attendance, but we all knew his mother and Professor Oak would also be there.

"Tell your new friends tomorrow morning about this. Get a good night's rest. We will all need it."

He hung up, leaving the rest of us in silence. Red frowned, putting the pokegear down and looked at the rest of us silently. _"N will be in attendance too, so why would the Shadow Triad attack with him in the crowd too?"_ Blastoise asked. If the Shadow Triad could figure out that Giovanni was here, then they certainly knew that N was here as well and would be in in the stands. None of us knew the answer to that question.

"_Remember that he told us he was afraid they might not listen to him,"_ Venusaur answered. _"They quite possibly don't know or they just don't care."_

Red sighed, looking outside. _Who knows what those people want. If they're going to attack at the tournament tomorrow, though, that means they are serious._

"_Why else would they tell Giovanni to stay away?"_ Espeon said.

"_Why tell Giovanni at all?"_ Pikachu asked, sparks flying again.

"_Maybe they still want him to form Team Rocket again and join them?"_ Snorlax guessed, then looked at Red as he frowned. It was quite possible that Team Rocket could return with Giovanni as its leader.

_Let's get back to sleep. We have a big day ahead of us. When we get there, we can warn the others about what we heard, all right?_ Red said, leaning against the pillows and stared up at the ceiling.

I looked at Venusaur, who returned the worried look. We both knew we weren't the only ones who wouldn't be able to get back to sleep that night.

X-X-X

Once it was six-thirty, Red was out of bed. He had dozed for another hour or so along with the rest of us, but all of us were instantly awake when the alarm went off. After a brief shower and change of clothes, we were out the door by seven in the morning. The others minus Pikachu and I were in their pokéballs to rest before the tournament, and our trainer sighed into the crisp morning air. He looked at us two as Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder and held on as Red began to move to jump onto my back so we could start flying until he stopped when a voice shouted, "Hey!"

I turned my head towards the door to see who it was and walking towards us was a tired White and wide awake Black, smiling at us. Red seemed to relax, smiling back at them as he turned towards the siblings. "Man, I'm pumped up for this tournament! This time I really will kick Black's ass!" White said, grinning as her brother scowled.

"You only say that 'cause you lose on a six on six!" he retorted.

"No I don't!"

Red sighed with annoyance alongside me as Pikachu threatened a Thundershock. We really didn't need to hear sibling bickering this early.

"Can you two stop arguing? It's only, like, seven in the morning," said a new voice, coming from the door and Red looked up, seeing a sleepy Ethan come out with Blue, Nate and Rosa as well.

Voice confirmed to be Blue, White shot her attention towards him now. "So? That's not an excuse!" she replied, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Oh yea? Well, maybe you should think of something better to do other than arguing."

"You're arguing with me right now!"

"No, I'm not!"

As they argued, I looked at Red as he took a breath and ignored the quarreling. "I got a call last night," he suddenly interrupted, quieting the bickering trio. The humans turned to him, a few looking startled, a couple were simply listening.

"From Giovanni?" Ethan said, suddenly awake, and my trainer nodded.

"What did he say?" Rosa asked.

Red looked at me, and I grumbled low in my throat, encouraging him to speak up. "He said he was visited by the Shadow Triad again. They told him to stay away from the stadium today."

"Why?" Blue asked, giving a frown as Red shook his head, indicating he didn't know.

The trainers looked between themselves. There was silence for a moment before Rosa spoke up. "We need to warn the tournament officials, but we don't want to cause any panic. I'll go tell them now." She opened a pokéball and a large dragon-type opened up with a loud, "Hyd!" and before long they were gone.

"I'll go tell the others inside then, the rest of you should probably head over to the stadium as well and check out the area," Black said and ran off back inside the hotel.

The rest of us looked between each other and Blue finally sighed, taking a pokéball. "Black is right. Let's get going and catch up to Rosa." He opened Pidgeot's pokéball. "But I vote we fly there."

Ethan blinked and rose a hand. "Togetic isn't strong enough to carry me. I need to hitch a ride from someone," he said and I snorted at him. I was not going to give him a ride, he was annoying whenever he flew with Red.

"Not it!" Blue cried, taking off with Pidgeot and I followed suit as soon as Red was on my back.

Nate sighed, releasing a pokemon and looked at him. "Braviary, can you be nice and give us both a ride to the stadium?" he asked and the bird pokemon looked at Ethan, eyeing him up and down.

"_Very well, if he disturbs me like your sister does then I will drop him into a pile of Trubbish," _Braviary said, waiting for his trainer to climb onto his back and took off to take Ethan's raised arm in his talons. He seemed to be amused by the trainer's startled shout, and Blue laughed at his reaction before as I led the way.

"This is _so_ _not_ what I meant by getting a ride!" Ethan shouted, using his other hand to hold onto the leg that gripped his left forearm and prevented him from falling to the ground so far below.

Nate laughed. "Don't worry about it, Ethan! Braviary is a very strong pokemon, he's lifted a car before, so I'm pretty sure he's not going to let you go unless you squirm too much. He doesn't like that."

"Oh, I can't imagine why someone would squirm! One little claw that lets go and I'm dead!"

"Lighten up and have fun with it," White said with a smile, also being carried though Mandibuzz was holding onto her shoulders. "Mandibuzz is smaller than Braviary and I'm being carried just like you are. Have faith in them."

Her pokemon gave a happy, "Mandi!"

I heard Red sigh with annoyance and I quickly glanced over at him, seeing him pinching the bridge of his nose at them. I knew he didn't like traveling with other people and even this small trip was sealing the deal that it was going to be a long day. I looked ahead again, soaring gracefully and looked up at the gray clouds that were beginning to roll over into town from the sea though as we flew, I remembered the first time we flew together and a deep frown settled onto my face.

He had nearly died that day.

X-X-X

We had been traveling and ignoring the clouds that morning, we had decided to keep going and by the time it was near sundown, it was pouring. I was still a Charmeleon at the time and while we ran through mud and rain, Wartortle seemed to be having the time of his life, as Ivysaur panted behind us. Red had an arm across his forehead to block rain from getting into his eyes as he ran, trying to find shelter from the storm while Pikachu ran beside him.

I could hear Pikachu complaining about the mud they were running through but soon we stopped just in time; a cliff was just in front of us and Red panted, looking down at the river that had formed on the bottom. I pointed, seeing a thick tree that had fallen a ways off and it seemed sturdy enough to cross.

Red nodded and soaked to the bone, he started to run again and he looked at me, silently asking if I was well enough to stay out in the rain. I nodded and by the time we reached the natural bridge, Pikachu tested it by going first, waving at us as soon as he landed on the ground. Ivysaur went next, followed by Wartortle. When I crossed, I hesitated near the middle, hearing a strange sound but pushed it aside when I finished crossing as well. It was probably nothing, anyway.

I turned to see Red beginning to cross as well, carefully taking steps as he walked across the slippery bark—he was the largest of us four at the time and could have slipped much easier to his doom below. By the time he reached the middle, he looked down at the trunk, hearing a loud cracking noise and Pikachu shouted for Red to hurry and as if understanding, he wasted no time dawdling and took a step to run. That, however, was his biggest mistake.

The force of his heel caused the trunk to give way underneath his feet and he yelled as it split below him, the other end of the tree already crashing into the water while the roots of the tree on our end were ripping from the ground and the side of the cliff, forcing Red to struggle to hold onto the edge of the bark with his cold fingers as the wind tried to tear him away from the tree. If I had paid attention to what that noise had been, this wouldn't have happened.

I still blame myself for not telling the others, but at the time, I wasn't thinking about that, only feeling the panic as Red dangled dangerously in the air and his only hope of climbing out was tearing out of the ground at an alarming rate.

I saw Ivysaur try to grab him with his vines as Pikachu, Wartortle and I struggled to pull the trunk up to the ground again, though Ivysaur's vines just couldn't reach no matter how hard they both tried to take a hold of each other and the rest of us were losing our grip. Red reached up, nearly managing to grasp the end of Ivysaur's vine when there was a loud sound, and he was soon falling. The roots of the tree finally gave way to the mud and we were forced to let go and each of us cried out for our trainer as he fell and hit the water with the other half of the tree following.

We waited a few seconds for both to come back up, but when they didn't I knew something had to be done. Without thinking, I jumped after them as the others shouted for me not to go, that it was too dangerous for me especially. Wartortle was trying to find a safer way down while Pikachu and Ivysaur were forced to stay, as neither of them couldn't do much in the water.

Hell, who was I to say that? I was, and always will be, the least useful in water than they. Before I hit the surface, I knew it was a bad idea to go jump in like this, but since it was already too late for that, I knew Red would have done the same had it been any of us. The moment I broke the surface, I could see the tree and underneath it, was Red's leg pinned to the ground between said tree and a rock. He was trying to push himself out with his arms and free leg, though his struggles were weak as the bubbles around him became less and less in numbers.

By the time I reached the bottom, Red had nearly passed out, the bubbles around him gone. Even with my strength, the tree or the rock weren't budging and I knew at this rate I would need more air soon but I didn't want to go up without Red. Why was I so weak? Why couldn't I even save my trainer after he had helped me all this time?

I briefly spotted Wartortle from the corner of my eye reaching the bottom with me and tried helping me lift the large log as I remembered then his words from our first week together: I knew I could do this, I knew I could save him. I saw Red's eyes close and at that time, I barely registered myself evolving as I grabbed the tree and with a slight struggle, it finally lifted up enough for me to grab the human and kick off the ground with larger, more powerful legs and flared my brand new wings open. As soon as I was above the water, I gave a great gasp and roared, startling Pikachu and Ivysaur, who were trying to climb down. They quickly climbed back up as Wartortle swam to the shore as quickly as he could, we landed and I set Red onto the ground and hit his back to help him while he coughed and gagged the water out of him.

The rain stopped began to slow down as Red panted, looking tired but he smiled at us instead. "Thank you…" he had said before he continued to cough. I breathed a sigh of relief even as Wartortle began to scold me for being so reckless, I was just glad we were all okay.

Now we always flew together, he had no fear of being up so high, even laughing the first time he was above the clouds with me. Even with these small trips, he always enjoyed flying, and this time was no different as we traveled to the stadium. Although we were in a completely new region, it felt like all those other times we flew with each other in Kanto.

X-X-X

By the time we reached the stadium, he had grabbed my pokeball to put me back inside but with a shake of my head, he shrugged and put the empty pokeball back onto his belt. No one was inside yet, though Red walked through the halls anyway carefully making his way to the stands. On the other side of the stadium, I could see the others bending over to check underneath the stands and on the field were Black and Blue on opposite sides checking the entrances that led into the arena.

White followed us with Reunclius out as the others wandered off to check other places and floors for anything that was out of place. Reunclius' eyes were glowing a dim purple as he searched with his abilities to find anything as well. _"I sense nothing out of the ordinary,"_ he told the humans, though White looked troubled.

"This isn't right," she said softly. "Are they planning to attack in the middle of the battles?"

Red frowned more as Reunclius watched the other side of the stands as he saw Nate and Rosa searching for anything that could be hidden underneath the seats. His eyes glowed again, transmitting our voices into their minds as well. _"Are they planning to attack at all?"_ he challenged, to which I snorted and Red looked at me.

"_I'm pretty sure they are,"_ Pikachu responded. _"Why would they warn Giovanni, who would tell us? I just want to know what they're up to, it's kind of annoying."_

Reunclius looked at Red and White as they looked at each other. _"It is Team Plasma, it seems as if they are already formed again. Perhaps it is Neo-Plasma, but we cannot say for sure. Since it looks like no one can find anything, I would suggest all of us be very careful during the matches. This includes you, Hilda."_

White scowled. "Don't call me Hilda!" she snapped and Red looked immediately amused as Reunclius chuckled, allowing her to withdraw him. She sighed as she put his pokéball back onto her belt, then turned towards the field. "So if none of us can find anything, I say for now let's just have fun. Even if nothing happens, we'll have awesome battles, right?" She looked up at Red, smiling brightly.

His face turned slightly pink and he looked away, rubbing his head. Pikachu rolled his eyes at our trainer. _"They should just get together already. They've known each other for what? Three, four days? They act like they've always known each other. You think so too, right, Char?"_

I frowned a bit, watching Red. He had never acted this way before with another human before, it was so unlike him. But instead I glanced at Pikachu._ "I am certain they would be happy,"_ was all I said.

Pikachu smiled and nodded, jumping up onto the railing as Ethan came over. "Hey, the others are here. We get to go see who we're battling first!" he said, barely containing his excitement as he grabbed White and Red's arms at the elbows.

"Did you guys find anything?" White asked as we followed him through the halls.

Ethan shook his head. "No, but security knows about it now and everyone's been told not to tell the public. They're all on the lookout for anyone even remotely like Team Plasma."

Finally he let their arms go as they reached the main lobby, with the same man who had addressed the champions about the rules and days they were supposed to be here. I watched as the man nodded once to himself when all were in attendance. "Good morning, everyone! It seems that all of us have been alerted to a possibility of an attack by Team Plasma and because of that, if anything should happen during any match, neither trainer will win and we ask that you help anyone that may be in trouble."

He clapped his hands together, smiling again. "Now, onto the easy part! The screen above me will show you who you will fight! Now, this is a five-day event, we expect the battles between most of you will take some time. Thus, there will be nine battles for the first round. Five will battle today and four will battle tomorrow. The third day, the winners of those rounds will move onto second round. Since there are an uneven amount of trainers, then the odd person out, whoever has the _least_ amount of time in battle, will be the one to move onto third round. The winners of those two battles will move onto the finals on day five and be crowned World Champion that night at six." He then clicked a button, showing all of our faces. "Here you see the pictures we took when you came! Randomly selected here are the battles for today and tomorrow!"

He pressed a button, showing the screen change and large, bold letters say "DAY ONE" at the top. I scanned the pictures seeing my trainer against the blond girl and pink hat at the bottom.

The man turned to us. "Let's have a look at day one, today! The first battle at nine will start off with Dawn versus Nate, following at eleven will be Blue versus Diantha. At one in the afternoon, we have Black versus Brendan, then at three is Steven versus Lance, and finally at five we have Serena versus Red."

He pressed the button again, and the pictures disappeared and the "ONE" was replaced by "TWO."

"Day two of round one! First battle at nine is White versus Rosa! At twelve we have Ethan versus Calem, then at three it is Alder versus Wallace and finally at six is Iris versus Cynthia. Good luck to you all! Now, Dawn and Nate, could you both please follow me? The rest of you may do as you please, there are field spots you may watch from, you can sit in the stands in any empty seat, if there are any, or you may watch from the boxes from either side of the field. If you do not want to stay and watch, please be here at least thirty minutes before your battle time!"

Ethan looked almost disappointed that he wasn't battling today and I watched as a few decided to wander off into the boxes, though the long-haired, blond girl, Serena, came to Red, smiling at him and gave a polite curtsey. "Hi! I know you already know my name, but it's nice to meet you, Red!" she said and he nodded once at her. "I heard you didn't talk much. I'll do my best in battle, and although I may not look it, I'm no pushover in battle."

I struggled not to roll my eyes. She sounded like a rookie trainer, all talk and no fight.

"Your friend, Blue, has his hands full with Diantha though. I'd tell him to watch out for Gardevoir." She looked over as White, Rosa, Black, Ethan and Blue came over as well though Blue was staring at something on her wrist and ignoring the other confused looks, she smiled and held up her wrist. "You know what this is, don't you?"

Blue looked up at him though Red looked at him in confusion. "It's a mega stone, isn't it?"

"What's a mega stone?" White asked as Serena looked at the gem imbedded into her bracelet.

"Gramps told me about them. It's a special gem that allows a pokemon to evolve one more stage after their final one," Blue explained.

Serena nodded. "But you can only use it once in battle, and if your pokemon faints in battle, then it can't mega evolve until the next battle. Pokemon also can't mega evolve if they don't have close bonds with their trainers. You can only use one mega evolution per battle, also."

"It used to only be exclusive to Kalos until Hoenn started to discover that there are stones there too," Blue added, looking at the rest of us. "So I'm thinking that not only will Serena, Calem and Diantha have it, but Brendan, Wallace and Steven will have one as well."

"It still sounds awesome!" Rosa said. "Do you think that maybe Samurott can mega evolve?"

"Sadly, no. There haven't been any Unova pokemon that can mega evolve," Serena replied.

Rosa shrugged. "Oh well, worth a shot."

"Can you show us a mega evolution?" Black asked excitedly.

She turned to him with a mischievous look. "I'm sure if you wait for Blue and Diantha to battle, you will see one. Calem is my neighbor in Kalos, he's got a mean Charizard himself." She smiled up at me and I blinked as she walked around me in a full circle, inspecting me it seemed. "But I think you're bigger than his. His Charizard is the fastest Charizard I've ever seen."

I snorted at her, threatening to blow her hat off her head. _"I have never met a foe as fast as I am in the air,"_ I told her even knowing that she couldn't understand.

She giggled anyhow at my reaction then turned back to the other humans. "A lot of pokemon can mega evolve, including Charizard here. You'll see more than one on the field, I'm sure." She looked behind as someone called her name and she looked back. "It was nice meeting you all. Let's hang out some time, yea?"

Ethan was happy to accept as she ran off with Diantha and a black-haired boy in an outfit of blue, presumably Calem. Red looked at Ethan as he turned to face the rest of us. "So! Do you want to watch Nate and Dawn battle? I met Dawn, she's awesome, by the way. She's got a kick-ass Empoleon!"

White narrowed her eyes. "You only met her 'cause you think she's hot."

"She's pretty cute, yeah, but that's not the reason. I can scope out my enemies, can't I?"

"Now she's your enemy?"

"Of course! If we're going to battle each other, I want to know what pokemon she uses!"

"Ugh!"

"I want to see Nate battle, so I'm going up to the boxes. Are you guys going to watch?" Rosa interrupted and looked at everyone but Ethan and White as they continued to argue.

Blue nodded. "Since I'm the next in line to battle, I'm staying anyhow," he said. "You two, knock it off and let's go!" He watched as Ethan and White looked at him and then at each other with their glares before following the others. Red waved and Blue smiled knowingly. "Just be back soon, the matches start in fifteen minutes."

The others stopped and looked at Red while White was the one who asked, "Wait up, Red! Where are you going?"

"Going to pick up his mom," Ethan replied.

"Yup, she's still at the hotel. He told her that he'd pick her up from the hotel via Charizard," Blue added.

"Oh. Well, just don't be late, Red! We got matches ahead of us today!"

"You don't. You're the first one tomorrow!" Ethan replied as they walked away.

"So?! I want to watch all of them!"

Red sighed as soon as we were outside, out of the stuffy hall air and into the wide open sky shortly.

X-X-X

I flew to the hotel quickly, since it seemed we were in a bit of a rush. The greeting had lasted longer than we intended and finally landed on the ground. Pikachu and I followed Red inside and up the two flights of stairs it took to get to his mother's room, skipping a stair here and there to get up faster.

As soon as we reached the door, however, he stopped before knocking, and he wasn't the only one who sensed something strange. He looked at Pikachu and I, both of us giving a nod. I growled low in my throat as Red quickly opened the door and Pikachu leaped forward, cheeks sparking and I sensed Red's rage immediately rise.

His mother was cornered, looking frightened of the Bisharp in front of her and a man dressed in black appeared almost out of thin air, watching us three. "Red—!" she began.

"You are the one Giovanni has spoken with then?" he interrupter her calmly, completely ignoring Pikachu and I as he stood to his full height.

Red was glaring, his eyes narrowed as he snapped his fingers towards the Bisharp in front of his mother. Pikachu immediately let loose a strong Thunderbolt, but to our amazement it was blocked by a pokemon in white fur, an Absol if I was not mistaken, who used Protect. I stepped forward, sending Flamethrower its way before she blocked my attack just as easily, smirking as if daring us to try harder and immediately I was growling.

"You cannot defeat us without harming someone," said a second voice, and the door shut behind Red, causing him to spin around. A strange pokemon with a red cap-like head, with its arms crossed, was standing beside him with a glare equal to its trainer.

A third appeared on the other side of us, completing the triad with a ghost beside him, a Banette. "We have watched you from afar. You are very observant to have seen Bisharp from so far away," he said as his own Bisharp appeared from behind him.

Red looked at his mother, clearly trying to think of a way to defeat the Shadow Triad and get her out of there at the same time. He quickly reached for Snorlax's pokéball on his hip, though it did not go unnoticed. A third Bisharp was right behind him and took his wrist, twisting it painfully enough for him to cry out though he did not struggle as the blade on its free arm was pressed up against his neck. As it kicked the back of his knees to force him to kneel, the Bisharp told Pikachu and I, _"If you two know what is good for you, you will not attack."_

Pikachu hissed. _"Let him go!"_ he snarled as best he could, though the Absol laughed at him.

"_If either of you attack Bisharp, you harm your trainer. If you harm your trainer, you won't be able to participate in the tournament,"_ she said, smiling triumphantly.

I gritted my teeth together, roaring as the second of the members of the Triad approached Red. "You are the one who disbanded Team Rocket in Kanto. Lord Ghetsis wishes you hadn't done such a thing."

Red glared at him, wincing as he finally trying to squirm free and pull his head away from the blade dangerously close against his adam's apple as the man stopped and knelt in front of him.

"You are useful. Therefore, you will not die today."

"Then what do you want?" Red demanded, wincing again as the sharp bladed arm of the Bisharp pressed harder, a small trickle of blood falling. Pikachu was hissing again at the sight, his cheeks sparking furiously. Smoke was rising from my own nostrils, on all four of my paws and roared again at the man though he didn't seem phased at all. He didn't even turn around.

"We have already given Giovanni a message. We will make a world free of people like you. Lord Ghetsis only wishes for a world governed by one. We have gone about our ways in the least effective direction, however, we are told to give you a message." He stood back up and nodded towards the Bisharp that held Red. Bisharp removed the blade from against his neck and released his arm, dropping his captive to allow him to cough and rub his arm. "Should you keep digging around into places you should not, we will have no choice but to kill you. Consider this a warning."

The third one looked at Banette. "Banette, Shadow Sneak."

When the Banette disappeared, I knew it was going after my trainer, but before I could even reach him, the red-capped pokemon appeared in front of me and I briefly heard, "Accelgor, Swift!" I couldn't avoid the point-blank attack as I was sent flying away from my trainer and heard Pikachu using Thunderbolt on the Absol. As she fainted, my head swiveled to Red as he grunted in pain as the Shadow Sneak hit him in the stomach.

His mother was pale. "Red!" she cried.

He stumbled back, trying to reach for another pokéball but as soon as he tried, a Shadow Ball appeared out of nowhere, though I heard the Banette cackling. The attack hit him hard enough to send him flying into the wall hard enough to leave a slight indent and when he fell, he didn't get up. I knew he'd been knocked out upon hitting the wall and was infuriated enough to roar and burned one of the Bisharp with Flamethrower. As it was returned, I saw one of the members of the Triad come up behind Red's mother, slamming a hand into her neck hard enough to stun her. As she collapsed to the floor and strained to remain awake, Pikachu rushed to her and shook her shoulder to keep her awake.

The Shadow Triad member reached into his pocket for something. "We, the Shadow Triad, will bring glory to this world again!" he shouted, throwing pellets onto the floor for a makeshift Smokescreen. Pikachu and I coughed and once the smoke disappeared, they were gone. I looked around, growling low in my throat when I noticed Red's mother had passed out.

Pikachu went to Red, shaking him gently as he tried waking him up as well. He put a paw on the back of his head and visibly winced. _"He isn't bleeding, but there's a really large bump on his head,"_ he said and looked up at me as I came over silently, picking him up and placed him into the bed. Pikachu pressed the other pokéballs, releasing the rest of the team.

Espeon licked Red's cheek to try and wake him up and frowned when he didn't. She turned to us, her eyes full of anger. _"What happened?"_ she asked as Blastoise, Venusaur and Snorlax all wondered the same however Snorlax was the one who checked on Red's mother to make sure she too was all right.

"_The Shadow Triad came. They attacked us and knocked them both out,"_ Pikachu responded sadly. _"We couldn't do anything otherwise that Bisharp would have killed Red and his mom."_

Snorlax frowned, noticing the thin line of blood that was drying on Red's neck. _ "Charizard, go get Blue or White, someone. They need to know what happened,"_ he said and I nodded as I jumped out the same window that had most likely been the Shadow Triad's escape.

Once again I was reminded of how weak I was. Had I just kept attacking, I am certain Red and his mother would be unharmed, safe and sound. It reminded me of just before I had evolved, how I was too weak to lift a single rock or tree to free my trainer. I roared in anger at myself once I was high in the sky.

When Red would wake up, I was sure he would be just as disappointed in himself as much as I was for me. I looked down, shaking my head several times. I felt like a weak little Charmander again. This weak little overgrown Charmander couldn't even beat a bug pokemon and was sent flying with a single Swift attack. How arrogant I was to call myself strong.

I sighed but struggled to push it all aside as I saw my destination nearing. I dove as soon as I was close enough and I briefly wondered why Blue was outside with White and Ethan, though I wasted no time for an explanation as I hooked my arms underneath him and scooped him up bridal style, ignoring his startled cry. "H-hey! Charizard!" He looked at me as I flew as quick as I could, briefly hearing Ethan whine about having to run the entire way. "What's going on? Espeon told me and White to come outside because it was an emergency."

I only grumbled in response as I flew quickly for the _chateau_ again.

Blue made a worried sound, then looked to the side as Mandibuzz followed me with White and more surprising was Ethan holding onto her ankles. As soon as Mandibuzz was above me, she sighed with relief when Ethan let go to land as gently as he could on my own back. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I don't know!" Blue said. "I got kidnapped by Charizard!"

"Aw, was Blue startled?"

"Shut up, Ethan!"

White said nothing, looking worried as we neared the window I had flown out of only five minutes earlier. "Charizard looks worried, something must have happened," she finally said and Blue looked up at me again as I refused to look at them, pumping my wings as fast as I could to the side of the building. For once, Ethan offered no sarcastic retort.

As I neared the window, I set Blue close to the window and was glad he didn't need help jumping in as soon as he saw who was laying on the bed. "Red!"

Ethan was squirming, trying to find a good was to get off of my back and was promptly helped inside with Venusaur's vine and did the same with White. Freed of having to help humans inside through the window, I held on, folded my wings onto my back and slithered back inside with ease.

White was scanning Red with her eyes but they stopped at his neck and a knowing look came to her face. "Bisharp did this, didn't it?" she asked quietly and Pikachu nodded sadly.

"Bisharp?" Blue muttered, sitting on the edge of the bed and scratched the uneasy Venusaur's head.

Ethan blinked once. "The Shadow Triad?"

White nodded and pointed to Red's neck. "That happened to Black. The exact same spot. I found him unconscious in Chargestone Cave once. Said that it was from a Bisharp that had grabbed him from behind to talk to the Shadow Triad and N."

Espeon made a sound to alert the three humans. _"Pikachu and Charizard did what they could, his mom just woke up and is in his room to get a few things,"_ she told them, her gem still glowing.

"_They kept him out of the way. He was hit with a Shadow Ball and Shadow Sneak, and he made a lovely indent on the wall,"_ Pikachu added quietly.

White inhaled sharply, looking at the wall and then at Red, taking off his hat and gingerly touched the back of his head. "He's going to have a nasty headache when he wakes up. Did either of you see where they went?" Pikachu and I shook our heads.

"I'll go tell Lance what happened, he'll know what to do," Ethan said and Blue nodded as he ran off.

The rest of us were quiet for a time before Blue sighed. "Arceus, he gets into too much trouble even now," he muttered, mostly to himself.

White frowned, then looked at Red again. "I'm sure he doesn't mean it."

"No, he doesn't, but he attracts it like a fly to a fly trap." He sat up, blinking as Red winced, slowly opening his eyes. "Well look who's waking up." Red groaned softly, wincing as he slowly pushed himself up with an arm, wincing as he moved his right arm, rubbing the back of his head. "You okay?"

Red nodded and seemed to immediately regret it.

"How about you take it easy," White suggested, easing him back down.

I came to the side of the bed as well, making a small sound and he patted my jaw gently, trying to tell me it was all right. He opened his eyes again, looking around again carefully. "Don't you have a match soon?" he muttered to Blue, who shrugged.

"Not for another forty minutes. Care to tell us what happened?"

I looked at the door as it opened to reveal Red's mother, and although she looked like she had a headache as well, she held a bag in her hands and closed the door tightly behind her. "Oh, my, I didn't even see you two come in at all!" she said and came to the bed as well. "Did you come in through the window?" She looked up at me and I supplied a nod that she returned and looked at Red again. "Do you feel okay?"

Red nodded and kept a hand on his arm, and I wasn't surprised it still hurt as he sat up, this time staying up despite a wince.

White looked at his mother as she eased him against the headboard to lean against to rest some more. "What happened?" she asked.

Red's mother sighed. "I was about to head outside actually, and thought the knock was Red. Stupid me, I didn't even bother to look when I opened the door. The next thing I know I was in the back of the room and Red came in. They talked about wanting a world run by one person and how they were going about it the wrong way before."

White frowned and looked at Blue. "Then they want to team up with Team Rocket?" she asked as he stirred uncomfortably.

"They only came into power after influencing so many different companies and I am sure a few politicians were in Team Rocket, that's probably why no one went after them for so long until Red came along," he replied.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Team Plasma probably wants to add Kanto to their list through Team Rocket. They had a firm grip on Kanto, and they were going to do the same to Johto. Luckily, Ethan stopped their rise in Johto." He stood and headed for the door. "I'm going to my match. You can probably watch it on T.V., hopefully not pay-per-view, right Red?"

Red managed a small smile and Blue smiled back, soon leaving the rest of us alone as well.

White sighed as she leaned in her chair. "Well, for now it's over. I doubt we'll see anything happen at the tournament today. Let's just turn on the television and try to figure out which channel they're showing the matches on. Agreed?" Red's mother smiled with a nod, going to find the remote and let White try to find the channel.

I looked at Red as he moved, trying to sit up more and I made a guilty sound again, knowing it was partially my fault for letting this happen to him. He smiled at me, patting his head as Espeon transmitted our thoughts together. _It's okay, Charizard. You've no need to worry. Neither of us could have done anything without seriously hurting someone. I'm fine._

"_But you got hurt."_

_I'm fine, Char, I swear. You helped keep my mom safe, that's what matters. She isn't hurt and I'll be up and running around within the hour, you'll see._

"_I doubt that fast."_

_Well, for now, just know that I am very grateful for what you did._

I wasn't so sure about that, unable to look at him in the eyes anymore as he moved to sit up more. _"You shouldn't be moving so much."_

_And you aren't my mom._

"_She would agree though."_

_Char. _I looked at him again, seeing no trace of blame or hurt, no hint of disappointment or pain as he smiled at me again. _It is all right. We can still move forward, right?_

I stared at him. That strange feeling came back to me, and he offered his hand again, much like he had done for me such a long time ago. I finally closed my eyes before nodding once, bumping my jaw against his chest gently for him to scratch my chin.

"_Yes. We can still move forward."_

X-X-X


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** And so the PWT finally begins! If any of the battling is confused, feel free to let me know.

* * *

_10_

_Pikachu_

In Kanto, Team Rocket didn't have ninjas or special ninja pokemon or anything remotely ninja-like. They weren't super-human beings that could disappear without a moment's notice and they also couldn't be as silent as a ghost-type pokemon. They also didn't have the invisible walls like Koga's gym did. The point being, we had not expected the Shadow Triad to appear, not in a million years. We hadn't anticipated they would go to Red's mother of all people either but the question that ran through all of our minds was just one word: _Why?_

It was possible they used his mother to lure us into a trap—which was done splendidly, but you'll never hear me say that out loud—however, it led back to the famous _why_ we all asked each other.

Of all the people competing, _why_ would they go after Red's mother? If they knew Giovanni was relaying information to Red, _why_ keep telling him what they were planning? _Why_ were they even here? _Why_ would they strike during a tournament full of the world's best pokemon trainers?

Although it wasn't a famous why, we also wondered what their true purpose was. Sure, they wanted to rule the world, but was that really it?

With everything that had just happened, I was completely confused and my brain would explode from the stress and unanswered questions filling my head. Why this was happening at all, especially at a time like this, was confusing to everyone. Even Lance, who came as soon as he heard the news of what happened, was left scratching his head. This coming from a guy who was far more intelligent than most was unnerving to all of us. We just figured it was because there were so many people congested in a single area.

Red was up and about nearly ten minutes after Blue had left, clearly wanting to go see his match in person. Charizard was tempted to push him back down but when White agreed to go with him, he gave a long drawn-out sigh, especially when he seemed to share the same feelings as his mother. Neither of them wanted Red to be moving around but they had no choice if they wanted to keep an eye on him and simply followed him out the door. Lance stayed behind to investigate the damage with Wesley, who was everything but thrilled to see damage to the thick walls and paint, mumbling under his breath how much the repairs would cost and what insurance would cover.

The ride to the stadium was mainly silent, I couldn't tell what any of the humans were thinking, but Red's face was serious while his mother's was just full of worry for her only child, while White was deep in thought, looking more and more confused as we reached the stadium in record time. We landed in the front of the gates shortly and Red recalled Charizard soon, quickly leading the way when we heard the cheers proclaiming that Dawn had defeated Nate using Rotom, whatever that was. I heard Red sigh a bit in relief; I'm sure he was glad he could at least make it in time for Blue's battle.

"What in Arceus' name are you doing here?"

I turned my head around with Red, seeing Blue standing near a set of stairs that led to the basement. "Aren't you supposed to be in your room? You did just kinda get knocked out," he scolded.

Red narrowed his eyes in annoyance and White smiled. "It's okay, his mom and I are with him, we won't let him get back into any trouble and if his head starts to hurt again, I have the wonderful magic called pain killers," she said and Blue sighed, looking unconvinced. "Besides, we've already made it clear if he starts to feel dizzy at all, he's going back to bed. Trust me, Blue."

Red blinked. This was the first we've ever heard about this. White looked at us, her eyes letting us clearly know that she was completely serious.

I tilted my head and finally Blue groaned again. "Fine, fine, whatever. You were never one to sit still anyway. I'll be on the Western side, the boxes are up the stairs. I'll see you up there, yeah?"

Red nodded and Blue turned around, giving a backwards wave as he disappeared down the stairs, where a few staff members were waiting for him. When he was gone, White approached a door and opened it, revealing another staircase leading up. "This way, but we have to hurry, the battles are going to start very soon!" she said and ran up said stairs, but not before taking Red's hand.

Red's face turned instantly pink but he went after her as he smiled at her excitement while I looked up at Red's mother as she sighed, but watched her blink when the two teenagers already disappeared up the stairs before she smiled. I tilted my own head. _"What's wrong?"_ I asked her out loud, though she didn't understand as she picked me up.

She calmly walked up the stairs and I caught a hint of a smile growing on her face. She was silent for a few moments, only pausing to let a few kids run past and through a set of doors leading out to the bleachers on the second floor. "I'm not upset at him," she told me when she started up to the third and final floor, as if she knew what I was asking. "I am happy he has found someone else to make him smile. I haven't seen him smile like that in ages. He hasn't smiled like that since the day he left on his journey."

I tilted my head, then looked at the hall on the third floor that led to the box overlooking the field. A door had closed, no doubt Red and White had entered it already without waiting for us. It was rare to hear anything of Red's life before he started other than embarrassing stories and Red would never talk about it no matter how much we would pester him.

"Just make sure he stays that way when I can't, Pikachu." I looked back at her as she scratched my ears. "Can you do that for me?"

I nodded and gave her a thumbs-up. _"Of course, I can!"_

The door opened again, Red blinking at us and held it open for his mother and I. "You, young man, need to learn to slow down and wait for me," his mother instantly scolded and his face flushed in embarrassment when someone laughed from inside the room.

"Yeah, Red, be more respectful to your mother!" Ethan's voice said and Red shot a glare towards the trainer, who sat near the middle of the seats as he laughed again.

"Be nice, Ethan!" scolded Rosa.

"Ow!" I had come in to see White smack his head but soon his face turned somber and he looked at Red. "Are you sure you're okay though?"

The one with the white cap and a strange green pokemon with a red stripe around its middle—Brendan, I think (so sue me, I always forget his name, I get enough of that from Espeon)—turned as well, and even though he didn't know Red, he looked concerned as he said, "We heard what happened—"

Red gave a sharp nod to cut off the trainer, though he looked irritated and his mother sighed at her son's stubbornness as she sat down in the front row beside him while Black had the seat on the other side of her, leaning back in his seat a bit lazily.

He frowned a bit, watching Red though his eyes quickly averted the moment he spotted the mark on his neck, almost subconsciously rubbing his own neck. I made a sound to alert him and Black blinked at me, then smiled, removing his hand to scratch my head once instead. Well, at least the same cute tactics could work on him just as well as my own trainer.

It made me laugh on the inside. They say the humans were the trainers. I beg to differ.

The box was just an extended platform, shaded from the sun and railings kept from anyone from falling to their doom far below. I couldn't help but notice that a few spectators were talking madly amongst each other and pointing up towards us or to the other side of the arena, where the other half of the champions could sit as well. From here I could see Alder laughing with Cynthia, as well as Calem, who was inching closer to the edge of his seat, knowing Diantha was up next. Surprisingly enough, Joey was also there, though he was chatting merrily away with Serena until the next match would start. Steven, Iris and of course Lance were nowhere to be found.

White sat on the other side of Red in the front row, though she turned her head to watch a slightly disappointed Nate shook hands with a very delighted Dawn, then the two exited through different doors. I sat in Red's mother's lap, not minding it as the announcer's voice suddenly exclaimed, _"Champion Dawn will be moving onto round two, who will join her side? Let's find out in a few short minutes! Next up is Champion Blue versus Champion Diantha!"_

Not even five minutes later, Nate entered, taking the nearest seat he could and sighed. "Ugh, I messed it up with Carracosta… I could've beaten Dawn!" he said and rubbed his head after taking his visor off briefly. "I was this close, too!" He pinched his thumb and index finger close together.

"Better luck next time?" Rosa said and giggled as he groaned loudly, clearly disappointed.

Cheers suddenly erupted as the two combatants emerged from the rising platforms from the ground and from our position, I could see Blue turn his head up a bit, making sure we were here and satisfied, he returned his gaze to the field, eyeing Diantha as she returned the determined look with a hand on her hip whilst his were crossed. From somewhere in the crowd I distinctly heard a high-pitched voice scream, "We love you, Blue!" followed by several agreeing screeches.

I saw Red roll his eyes as White snickered. "Guess he's a fan favorite, huh?"

I nodded. _"Better believe it,"_ I replied.

The announcer cut through the noise once again. _"Just like before, this is a full six-on-six battle with no breaks and no items! Trainers are free to switch pokemon at any time. The trainer with the last standing pokemon will move onto round two. Trainers, please release your pokemon!"_

I already knew which pokemon Blue was going to send out, grinning as he indeed shouted, "Jolteon, go!"

From the other side and at the same time Diantha cried, "Hawlucha, let's battle!"

Jolteon gave a cry and Hawlucha returned it, soon standing on one leg. I couldn't hear if they were saying anything but I could see many people in the boxes pull out their pokédexes to scan Hawlucha, including Red. "Wow, a fighting and flying type? That's so cool!" Brendan said, smiling but he turned a little red when a few of us stared at him and he immediately scratched his head in attempt to beat away a bit of nervousness. "May says that if I hadn't become a trainer I would become her dad and be a researcher and I think she's right."

I blinked, flicking my ears as Red looked at him with a bewildered look.

"Really?" Ethan asked, causing Brendan to look at him. "Red too. He's always wandering off to study pokemon in his free time."

Brendan smiled and looked at Red as he nodded to confirm it. "You've seen all sorts of pokemon then, huh? Maybe we can go search for more pokemon at the end of the day today? My dad is actually Norman, he's a gym leader and my best friend is May, whose father is Professor Birch. He encouraged me to get out there anyway, so I decided what's better than to just go and explore the area and its pokemon?"

Red shrugged, indicating he wouldn't mind and Brendan smiled like a child in a candy store, looking at the pokemon in his lap. "You hear that, Kecleon? I'm not crazy either!"

Kecleon gave him a bored look. _"Yeah, I didn't hear anything 'cause he doesn't say anything. But I've heard he isn't careful around wild pokemon,"_ he said.

I shook my head. _"He really isn't. Usually when Red wanders off, he doesn't even take any of us,"_ I told him.

Kecleon sighed then crossed his legs as he looked at me. _"Brendan has tried that before. Metagross had to drag him away. With the way these two act, I kind of wonder how the human race has survived this long."_

I snickered. The similarities between the two trainers was like a grocery list that was steadily growing with each passing second. I looked at the stadium again, noticing the two pokemon begin to tense.

"_You may begin!"_

"Jolteon, use Agility around Hawlucha, then Sand Attack!" Blue called instantly, watching as Jolteon burst forward with sudden speed with a cloud of dust quickly following and rising into the air. Hawlucha covered his eyes, giving an uncomfortable sound as he tried to pinpoint Jolteon's location.

Diantha looked annoyed but quickly hid her annoyance under a mask that she smiled with and confidently said, "Hawlucha, close your eyes, don't let the sand get into them! Use Swords Dance!"

Hawlucha obeyed, calming itself and soon faint images of swords appeared then disappeared, raising his attack immensely.

"Jolteon, use Thunderbolt!"

I was impressed. Where Kecleon was voicing his confusion alongside some of the other trainers, Red was smiling, knowing exactly what Blue was doing. This strategy had been used against Charizard once, and was easily recognizable once used.

"Why's he pulling out that trump card now?" I heard Ethan ask no one in particular.

Jolteon gave a loud cry, jumping into the air and sent the electricity straight into the cloud, watching it scatter and disappear among the microscopic pebbles in the air. The sand made it impossible for electric attacks to work, but it worked well as a net.

Diantha hadn't a clue as she blinked in her own confusion. "Hawlucha, use High Jump Kick!"

Jolteon calmly waited on the other side of the sandy dome when he landed, grinning when Hawlucha hit the invisible net. The pokemon gave a cry of pain that could be heard from hear as the bright electricity suddenly found itself the perfect target to hit. As he hit the ground, more dust rose, but after taking a hit and missing a High Jump Kick, I knew he was out for the count. When the dust settled, Jolteon gave a soft snort at the fallen form of Hawlucha.

Diantha looked surprised, not expecting a 1-hit KO but she smiled instead, recalling Hawlucha soon. "You did good, Hawlucha."

"_That was amazing! The quickest defeat in this tournament thus far! With strategies like that, how can Diantha win?"_

I heard White sigh. "Announcers are annoying," she mumbled and Red nodded in agreement.

"But sometimes they're useful," Rosa said with a grin. "If you listen, they'll give you hints as to what your opponent will do."

"But shouldn't a ground type move make moves like Thunderbolt ineffective? Why did that work?" Nate asked, watching as Diantha pulled out another pokéball. "And why only in one hit?"

"He used Agility to gain speed and when he used Sand Attack to make dust fly in the air. I'm not really sure what the science part of it is but point is, it created a trap that Hawlucha couldn't get out of," Black muttered, almost to himself.

"What's got your panties in a bunch?" White asked him but Black decided to ignore her instead.

"And High Jump Kick is a risky move, if you miss, you damage yourself from the brute force," Ethan explained. "Hawlucha is a flying-type pokemon and is weak against electric attacks so on top of Thunderbolt and High Jump Kick, Hawlucha was doomed from the start. Blue's Jolteon has a mad powerful Thunderbolt. Not that Pikachu doesn't either," he quickly added, seeing my cheeks spark slightly.

"Chu," I said defiantly, crossing my small arms across my chest and Red's mother chuckled quietly, petting my head again.

"Oh. But maybe Diantha has some moves of her own. I mean, she is someone who can mega-evolve a pokemon, right?" Rosa said.

Brendan smiled. "Just mega-evolving a pokemon doesn't mean it's an instant win," he said. "There's still strategy you have to use."

Diantha threw the pokéball that had been in her hand. "Go, Tyrantrum!"

The dinosaur look-alike appeared and gave a very loud and large roar, startling even myself. I'd never seen anything quite like that before, but with Aerodactyl and Kabutops, I should stop being so surprised to seeing extinct pokemon.

Jolteon stood his ground, though he looked slightly nervous, glancing back at Blue and nodded once, their silent communication understood as the electric fox looked ahead, this time just as confident and cocky as his trainer. "Jolteon, Double Kick!"

As Jolteon rushed forward, Diantha grinned suddenly. "Tyrantrum, use Crunch!"

I watched as Jolteon kicked once in Tyrantrum's middle, but before he could land the second one Tyrantrum snatched his leg in the painful Crunch, causing Jolteon to cry out with a loud yelp before being thrown to the side.

"Earthquake!"

Tyrantrum roared again and slammed a large foot into the ground straight for Jolteon, who struggled to get up quickly. "Jolteon, jump!" Blue shouted, then covered his own face as dust flew all around. When the dust cleared not too much longer, Jolteon had managed to ease his way out of the broken ground but even though he was still standing, Blue returned him anyway, not wanting to have his starter incur more injuries.

"_What's this? Jolteon is still standing but Blue has chosen to return it!"_ the announcer shouted amongst the cheers. _"Who will Blue choose next?"_

I smiled a little as Blue narrowed his eyes and knew he was finally getting serious as he pulled out a second pokeball. I'm pretty sure Jolteon could've taken on Tyrantrum but whatever Blue was thinking he was at least planning ahead. Maybe. He tossed the pokeball, revealing a very strong four-armed pokemon.

"_It's Machamp!"_

Machamp stood its guard, silent as always and eyed Tyrantrum with a challenging look that seemed to only infuriate the supposedly extinct pokemon. "Machamp, use Bulk Up!" Blue commanded and soon Machamp seemed to look stronger and his skin seemed to harden a little, raising his attack and defense. I watched as Tyrantrum ran towards Machamp.

"Tyrantrum, Head Smash!"

"Dynamic Punch!"

There was no avoiding the punch or the Head Smash as they came barreling at each other, though Machamp seemed to take the attack like it was nothing, as it was one fist that stopped Tyrantrum from going any further. Tyrantrum stumbled back a few steps as it flailed, clearly confused. Blue smirked as Diantha gritted her teeth together.

"_It looks like Tyrantrum is confused while Machamp looks like it took no damage at all!"_ the announcer's voice said amongst the crowd's loud noises.

"Machamp, take this chance and use Focus Energy," Blue told Machamp, who nodded and concentrated, a bit of light coming but it left shortly, leaving Machamp to hop back and forth in anticipation as Tyrantrum continued to flail.

"Tyrantrum, listen to me! You're just confused!" Diantha said desperately, trying to soothe her pokemon. "Use Dragon Claw!" No such luck, the attack hit himself, and Tyrantrum stumbled backwards again, though focus seemed to start to come back.

"Machamp, now's our chance! Use Seismic Toss!"

Machamp ran at the Tyrantrum just as his focus completely returned, trying to use Dragon Claw again. However, Machamp avoided the attack, grabbing a firm hold of his thick, heavy tail with all four arms before _jumping_ into the air. I gaped as Machamp spun in two full circles before slamming the unfortunate dinosaur into the ground, breaking the already broken ground even further. As Tyrantrum struggled to get up, Machamp fell to the ground from above him, his top two fists glowing slightly. "Cross Chop!"

Machamp fell hard and fast, slamming said fists into Tyrantrum. The supposed extinct pokemon didn't get up as Machamp jumped and landed in front of Blue with a triumphant look, looking excited.

Diantha returned Tyrantrum as the announcer started babbling on about how strong Machamp was. Well, I would know. If he beat Snorlax in an arm wrestle, he was most certainly one of the physically strongest pokemon out there. I smiled a bit as Diantha paused a moment, clearly trying to decide which pokemon to use before throwing out a pokéball. "Go, Gourgeist!"

It… it was a floating pumpkin. I blinked, my ears twitching. That pokemon was just a floating, brown pumpkin with a candle on top. But upon closer inspection, it seemed like it was a ghost, making an eerie noise as it grinned. In all honesty, I've never seen a pumpkin look so creepy.

"_Gourgeist! One of the ghost types of Kalos!"_

Machamp seemed to already know what Blue was going to command next. "Machamp, use Foresight!"

"Gourgeist, Leech Seed!"

Machamp tried to avoid the seeds flying at him but as soon as one hit his lower left arm, it immediately sprouted, clinging to his arm. "Machamp, you still have time, use Cross Chop!"

The announcer seemed surprised. _"Doesn't Champion Blue know that fighting type moves can't hit ghost types?"_

But the audience was surprised when the Cross Chop slammed into the ghost-type, sending it flying into the ground with a cry. "I'd imagine the announcer would at least know what Foresight _does_ and not just a flashy move," Black said, crossing his arms, almost annoyed.

"Can you at least tell my why you're so pissed off right now?" White interrupted, poking her brother's arm, only for him to roll his eyes at her and push her hand off. Red blinked and looked at Brendan, who shrugged silently.

Diantha held a pokéball up as Gourgeist struggled to get up. "Gourgeist, return!"

Blue blinked as the pokemon disappeared and Machamp narrowed his eyes in anticipation, shaking his arm again to try and get the Leech Seed off.

"_Diantha has returned Gourgeist! Who will come take its place on the field?!"_

I watched as Diantha opened another pokéball, and the elegant pokemon that appeared made Brendan sit up a bit more, his eyes locked on it. I tilted my head up at him and Red looked just as confused as his mother smiled. "Oh, that's such a beautiful pokemon!" she said.

"That's a Gardevoir," Brendan said. "It's a psychic-fairy type. And you see that stone it wears around it's neck? That's a mega stone."

I sat up, completely excited now. I wanted to see this mega evolution, but when I looked at Blue, he seemed to immediately take notice of the stone as he stiffened slightly with anticipation.

From out of nowhere, I jumped when I heard the announcer say, _"Gardevoir arrive on the scene!"_

I gave a groan as Red smiled at me, amused. I hadn't expected the voice and then I looked back up as Diantha tapped her necklace.

"Gardevoir! Mega evolution!" Gardevoir hummed something before she started to glow just as brightly as the gem on Diantha's neck. The entire audience was spell-bound, it was likely over half of the people in attendance had never seen a mega evolution before, including ourselves, except for Brendan. He didn't seem to be too impressed, watching with the rest of us as the light died down. Gardevoir looked completely different as soon as the light faded, and even I sensed that her power had nearly doubled. She gave a powerful cry, the pink in the middle extended, the white coat floating about Gardevoir's form made it seem she was levitating off the ground rather than standing on the tips of her toes.

"_Wow! A mega evolution! It helps evolve a pokemon even farther than their current states for a limited time during battle!"_ the announcer said, sounding like he was having the time of his life.

"Gardevoir, Future Sight!" Gardevoir's eyes glowed and opened a portal above her head, sending a blast of kinetic energy into it before it disappeared from sight.

"Machamp, use Knock Off!" Gardevoir tried to avoid being hit but as soon as she was, she gave a cry, and distinctly I heard her feminine voice snap, _"Ow! That hurt, four-arms!"_ followed by Machamp's distinct voice, _"It's supposed to!"_

I snickered, mostly to myself and watched as Machamp jumped backwards to avoid a strong Psychic. Machamp grunted with pain as the Leech Seed sapped more energy from him and he flexed his affected arm, trying to bring feeling back into it as he listened to Blue command loudly, "Dynamic Punch!"

I knew what he was trying to do; we all knew Machamp wouldn't be able to defeat a mega-evolved Gardevoir, so what better way to give the next pokemon better odds by confusing her? Machamp was quick with his fists, but Gardevoir was faster to dodge, avoiding three in a row before finally being hit by the forth, with the Leech Seeded hand no less. He jumped backwards and looked up as the portal from Future Sight suddenly opened up above him.

Machamp cried out loudly as Gardevoir wavered on her feet in confusion, fighting to regain her focus as Blue recalled Machamp and quickly pulled out another pokemon quickly, not wanting to lose his chance. "Gyarados! Use Dragon Dance! And again!" Gyarados was covered with a vortex of red and black light, raising his speed and attack all at once. Double that and there was an unstoppable angry water lizard already looking pissed at Gardevoir.

"_Just as quickly as Machamp fell to Future Sight, Gyarados has taken its place on the field!"_

Diantha grunted and looked at Gardevoir as the psychic was still confused, somehow managing to use Magical Leaf against herself. "Gardevoir! Use Wish!" Gardevoir sent a calming power in a star-like shape, letting it disappear into the sky as focus came back to her.

"Gyarados, use Aqua Tail!" Gyarados' tail became encased in water before extending his very large body and slammed his tail into the poor fairy. Gyarados removed his tail and there lay an out cold Gardevoir, in her normal form and Diantha hesitated as she recalled her precious pokemon.

"_Gardevoir has fainted! Blue is gaining the upper hand still with five pokemon still able to battle!"_

Ethan smiled. "Yea, well, she'd better have some good luck getting rid of Gyarados now. He's got two Dragon Dances on his side," he said. "Even I have trouble getting past that."

"Doesn't anyone?" Brendan asked with a blink.

"Not Red, he and Blue have battled each other since they were ten, they know each other's strategies inside and out."

"Wow. I kind of hope I can see you two battle each other," Nate said with an impressed look.

I puffed out my chest. _"Well, me and Red usually win!" _I told them and earned a giggle from White as she picked me up from Red's mother's lap.

"You're so cute, Pikachu," she said and I rolled my eyes at her. Cute wasn't what I'd want to be described as and I narrowed my eyes enough to cause her to erupt in another fit of giggles and set me down so I could jump onto the railing, my eyes locked on the match. I saw Diantha toss another pokéball into the air and I could tell she looked a little frazzled, clearly startled.

"_It's Gourgeist again!"_

The tired pumpkin gave a squeak at its formidable opponent, dodging a quick Dragon Rage. He hummed to itself as Wish took effect, and he looked refreshed, various cuts having healed and he floated confidently into the air with a loud cry as Diantha shouted, "Gourgeist, Leech Seed!"

"Not going for that again, Gyarados, dodge it and use Ice Fang!" Blue shouted. Gyarados avoided the Leech Seed quickly then with icy fangs, bit down hard onto the ghost. It screeched and once released, it hit the ground hard, struggling to get up again.

"Gourgeist, use Shadow Sneak!"

From behind, I barely saw Red give a slight shudder, but he did well to hide it, not even his mother noticed. Gourgeist disappeared into a shadow in the ground, and even though Gyarados was soon hit, Blue commanded a second quick Ice Fang. Gyarados bit down hard and tossed Gourgeist to the side near Diantha, roaring once he found himself unable to get up and fainted, the referee declaring Gyarados the winner.

"_Two down in less than five minutes! Amazing! Diantha had better be careful with her last two pokemon if she wants to go into the second round!"_

Diantha returned Gourgeist, her plan failed and watched Blue for a moment before tossing out a fifth pokéball. "Go, Aurorus!"

With the appearance of a second dinosaur, I only watched. This one, unlike Tyrantrum, held the graceful aura Venusaur had. The ice-type offered a loud roar himself, the fins on his neck turning all sorts of colors in the light. Even Blue seemed to be impressed. "Another dino, eh?" he said and she smiled. "Gyarados, use Hydro Pump!"

"Aurorus, counter it with Ice Beam!" The two jets of ice and water hit each other, each trying to overpower the other but eventually there was a cold blast, and from the mist Diantha shouted, "Freeze-Dry!" while at the same time, "Dragon Rage!"

Red looked confused, he had no idea what 'Freeze-Dry' and when I heard Aurorus and Gyarados' pained cries, Blue was the one that looked worried while Diantha remained confident. "Gyarados!" he shouted. The mist cleared and Gyarados was still up, panting but stayed up. "You okay, Gyarados?" Gyarados gave a shaky nod.

"_Freeze-Dry! A move that is even super effective against water types! Amazing that Gyarados is still up!"_

"Good, then use Rain Dance!" Gyarados roared loudly into the sky, the dark clouds covering the stadium as a rainstorm started. Diantha looked annoyed suddenly, the downpour starting to drench them and the field while Blue didn't seem to care, looking confident and it was clear as day that whatever plan he had in mind was coming together.

"Aurorus, use Freeze-Dry! Finish Gyarados!"

"Quick, Gyarados, use Hydro Pump again!"

Gyarados loaded, charged and fired the attack before Aurorus had a chance to even know what hit him. Aurorus fell hard, not moving.

"_Diantha has lost Aurorus! This isn't looking good for her! She has one pokemon remaining while Blue still has five!"_

I nodded my approval even as the rainstorm stopped, the clouds disappearing. Blue was doing very well for the first round in a champion's tournament. I expected as much, anyway, he had trained very hard and I had myself seen the improvement with Pidgeot when we'd first gotten that hand-delivered letter on Mount Silver. "Go, Goodra!" Diantha said and soon the happy-looking dragon appeared, ooze dripping from its arms.

At the same time, both champions shouted, "Use Outrage!"

At least Diantha knew she would lose, it seemed she only wanted to end it quicker to move on with her day. Goodra shouted in pain alongside Gyarados, though with both fallen on the field and their trainers recalled him, the cheers were loud as the announcer said, _"Blue is the victor with four remaining pokemon! He will move onto the next round! The next battle is our local Champion Black versus Hoenn native Champion Brendan!"_

Diantha gave a disappointed sigh as the platforms lowered and they nodded at each other, both leaving and going through separate doors again. Blue stuffed his hands into his pockets, disappearing soon enough. Black groaned and stood up with a stretch. "Welp, I'm next," he said. "I'll see you guys later. Wish me lu—"

"No cheating!" White snapped immediately and Black immediately narrowed his eyes as Brendan also stood, looking confused but said nothing.

"I don't cheat!"

"Promise not to use Zekrom?" Now I was confused. Did Black know Zekrom? If Dawn was 'Tamer of Giratina' he wouldn't be 'Tamer of Zekrom' would he?

"I won't, I won't. Zekrom's 'in case of emergency' but the likelihood of that happening now after what happened earlier this morning? Not really high." He rose a hand to wave that White returned as he left with Brendan out the door.

Once they were gone, Ethan was the one who asked, "Just what kind of relationship does Black have with Zekrom anyway? What do you mean he can't 'use' Zekrom?"

White looked at him. "Oh, here Zekrom and Reshiram are legendary dragons. A really long time ago there was a war between two princes and after that they had been asleep in the White Orb and the Black Orb. Zekrom chose Black as its hero, the Hero of Ideals." She smiled. "He bragged about it after he found out too, but when we get a chance, maybe he can introduce you to him."

"What about Reshiram?"

Rosa smiled and perked up immediately, raising a hand straight into the air. "That's me! I'm the Hero of Truth!" she exclaimed proudly. "But, it wasn't originally me though."

Red blinked now, looking curious.

"Not originally you?" Ethan asked, sitting up. "Who was the hero before you?"

"Surprisingly, it was N."

"N?!"

"Yep. I was going to face off against Ghetsis… but he used Kyurem to try to… um… kinda kill me, but then N showed up and saved my life. Kyurem then absorbed Reshiram, and I battled and defeated it. After the Neo-Team Plasma ordeal, I battled N, he released Reshiram and told me that Reshiram went to Dragonspiral Tower and was waiting for me. Sure enough, there he was and he's been the best traveling partner ever."

I gulped inwardly, looking up at Red. I _so_ did not want to battle legendary dragon type pokemon in this tournament.

"But don't worry," Rosa added shortly. "I don't plan on using Reshiram for tournaments like these. I have the team I've always been with on my side!"

She jumped as the door to the box suddenly flew open. "Ha! Take that!" Blue said suddenly, grinning as he sat down beside White, taking Black's empty spot. "Round two here I come! You better not lose against Serena, Red, I swear to Arceus. You and I have a battle to catch up on. That mega evolution was something else though, gotta tell you."

Red rolled his eyes as I looked back at Blue, still perched on my rail-seat comfortably and ignored many looks I received from the excited crowd. "The match after Black and Brendan is Steven against Lance, and since I'm pretty confident Lance will win, want to go for some lunch?" Ethan suggested, while Red's mother smiled at them.

"I can pick something up for you kids if you want me to! It's the least I can do for you after what happened this morning," she offered.

"Oh, you don't have to, we didn't do anything," Nate said, shaking his head as Red's mother chuckled.

She sat up a bit. "Even if you didn't, you would turn down free food?" The twinkle of mischief made Red sigh at his mother, trying not to roll his eyes at her.

"Well, when you put it that way…"

Ethan laughed. "I'm up for food after this!"

"_And here they are!"_ the announcer shouted, the two platforms on the field raising again. _"As you two may be aware, this is a full six on six battle! Trainers, please release your pokemon!"_

Brendan and Black threw pokéballs at the same time, and from the West side, a very tiny pokemon appeared, giving off an adorable—though I'm sure he tried to sound fierce, "Cast!" Castform floated in front of Brendan and stared at the opposing pokemon with a determined look.

On the other side of the field, a much fiercer pokemon appeared, and completely creeped me out far more than a floating pumpkin. I shuddered to think of why this pokemon existed, it was in the shape of a human coffin, shadowy arms coming out of absolutely nowhere and gave a loud, "Grigus!" Red eyes narrowed, daring Castform to even come close.

White shuddered. "Cofagrigus always freaked me out," she said and looked up at Red and Rosa as he nodded. "At least I'm not the only one."

"Why does Black have a pokemon like that?" Blue asked curiously, not in the least bit creeped out by Cofagrigus like we were. Of course, being Professor Oak's grandson, he's probably seen weirder in his grandpa's lab. "He doesn't seem like the type to have a ghost on his side."

White shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe it's just some big prank to keep freaking me out. So far, it's working."

"Castform, on the other hand, is completely cute and doesn't even seem to be that scared of Cofagrigus!" Rosa said excitedly.

"But overall, Castform are a weak pokemon. But we've underestimated weak pokemon before," Ethan said and looked at me. I flashed a grin at them, looking back on the field.

"_You may begin!"_

"Castform, use Sunny Day!" Brendan cried. Castform rose into the air, giving a hum as the sun brightened above the field, and I was a little startled to see Castform's head mimic that of a sun, looking like he was having the time of his life in the sunlight.

"Cofagrigus, use Mean Look!" Black ordered, and Cofagrigus' eyes glowed a bit and soon Castform glowed the same, though he only shook it off, though Brendan didn't look worried at all. "Now use Shadow Ball!"

When Brendan didn't issue another command, I was a little confused but Black was startled and narrowed his eyes when Shadow Ball went straight through Castform. I myself had no idea Castform was a normal-type, and it was clear that Black hadn't known either.

White was watching her brother, her eyes studying him and looked confused and worried. "Wow, Black really isn't trying right now, is he?" she said. "Cofagrigus knows a bunch of TM moves, so why isn't he using them? He should've known Castform's a normal type. Black seems distracted."

I glanced at Red, who was momentarily still. I frowned to myself, knowing that my own trainer was also a bit distracted, but that was understandable. Then I remembered when Black had rubbed his neck a while ago and I sighed to myself. I suppose when bad memories came up anyone would be distracted. I then turned my attention back to the battle, seeing that Cofagrigus was glancing at Black, almost wondering the same thing but snapped his eyes back to the tiny Castform.

"Weather Ball!" Brendan commanded, and a bright ball of white and orange light gathered and the attack was nearly double the size of Castform when it was thrown towards Cofagrigus, though it hit a Protect and once it faded, Brendan gritted his teeth with mild frustration as Black smirked suddenly.

"Cofagrigus, use Energy Ball!"

"Counter with Fire Blast!"

The green ball and star-shaped fire hit each other and exploded in the middle. "Cofagrigus, Toxic!" Black shouted and Cofagrigus raised all four of its arms, sending a deep purple liquid straight at Castform, which gave a cry when he got poisoned.

"Castform, use Hail!" The sunny weather suddenly disappeared and soon the hail appeared though Castform's sunny head disappeared and soon changed forms completely, nearly encased in a green protective substance.

Cofagrigus winced a little at the hail, but he looked more annoyed than anything. "Cofagrigus, use Energy Ball again!"

"Castform, Blizzard!"

Black was quick to respond after Energy Ball had been sent and ordered, "Protect!"

The Blizzard hit in full-force but Cofagrigus' form was protected with a shield in front of him and as soon as Blizzard was over, Protect disappeared, leaving an unscathed ghost type with an exhausted Castform, poisoned and weakening quicker. Brendan was growing frustrated and unable to return Castform, he had no choice but to keep trying to hit Cofagrigus. "Castform, use Hurricane!"

"Foorm!" Castform shouted as near gale-force winds erupted from himself and Cofagrigus looked startled, crying out as he was thrown here and there, eventually being slammed into the ground when the Hurricane was over, though Castform was greatly weakened, this time going to the ground as the Hail stopped and he returned back to his normal form and fainted from Toxic.

Cofagrigus got back up, damaged but otherwise fine.

"_Cofagrigus has defeated Castform! Black is now in the lead with six to five!"_ the announcer said among the cheers.

Brendan smiled a bit as he returned Castform. "You did good, Castform." He pulled out another pokéball, throwing it. "Go, Kecleon!"

Kecleon stood there, having a naturally dopey face but those intelligent eyes snapped towards Cofagrigus, who seemed to groan at the sight of another normal-type pokemon. "Maybe he'll become a normal-type gym leader like his dad?" Rosa asked, giggling to herself.

"_Brendan has sent out Kecleon, another normal-type pokemon!"_

Black gritted his teeth, looking tempted to recall Cofagrigus, but the ghost shook its head… I think. Does it have a head? I'm not too sure, but it looked like it did. I think I should stop thinking about it, pokemon like Cofagrigus kinda confused me.

"Kecleon, use Screech!" Brendan commanded and soon the high-pitched screech even made me cover my own ears as Cofagrigus stumbled a little, trying to cover something that must have been his ears. And here I thought Charizard had a set of lungs! Red looked at me with slight concern when it was over but I shook it off, giving the trainer a makeshift thumbs up before looking at the field again.

"All right then, Cofagrigus, use Mean Look!"

"Kecleon, Shadow Sneak!"

"What?!"

Even I was surprised as the normal-type disappeared into the shadows, effectively slamming claws into Cofagrigus as it cried out with pain. I had no idea such a small pokemon packed a powerful punch like that and it seemed like Brendan specialized in pokemon that were small and could hit hard. I'm sure if Castform had been fighting a different pokemon of his, the battle would have been his. But with Mean Look, all Cofagrigus had to do was wait for him to faint from the Toxic and it was easy with such high defense. Screech was smart for a physical-attack pokemon like Kecleon.

"Now Shadow Claw!"

Brendan smiled as Cofagrigus fell, fainted and Black looked startled before recalling the ghost as the announcer stuttered about how good of condition Kecleon was in. Black tossed in another pokéball. "Go, Excadrill!"

The steel mole appeared, not making a sound but took a defensive stance, brandishing sharp claws for hands.

"_It's Kecleon versus Excadrill!"_

Well no shit, Sherlock. I stand by White's statement. Announcers are annoying.

"Excadrill, use Swords Dance!"

"Kecleon, Screech!"

Once again I covered my ears and whined to Red, who stood and picked me up from the railing, going back to his seat with me in his arms as I rubbed my ears in annoyance. Even from here, Screeches were loud and painful occasionally. He gave me a look, one that I recognized and shook my head. He nodded and Nate blinked. "What just happened?" he asked.

"Red and his Pikachu are super close, probably asking if Pikachu wanted to go into his pokéball or something like that," Blue said with a nonchalant wave and Red nodded to confirm.

"Oh. I agree with White, you're too quiet, Red," Rosa added and Red gave a sigh, rolling his eyes at them as his mother smiled a little. "And to think you two are dating."

"They're dating each other?" Nate asked, surprised.

Red and White's faces immediately turned pink. "Eh?" was all Red said.

"We-we aren't dating!" White stammered.

"You're dating each other?!" Red's mother exclaimed.

"No!"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Red shook his head wildly, trying to tell her that they weren't dating.

"Yeah, right. And the sky isn't blue."

Speaking of the color blue, Blue grinned. "Then why were you two hugging the other night? If you admit it, it'll be a lot easier—"

"Shut up, Blue!" White snapped with her face turning redder, smacking his head this time. I could sense White and Red were both nervous, and it was painfully obvious that they both had feelings for each other now, but would they reveal it to each other? I had no idea, Red hardly ever told anyone how he felt about them and I wasn't so sure about White.

I smiled as Blue gave a loud, "Ow! Now I know how Ethan feels…"

"Hey!" Ethan retorted, but he was smiling anyhow. We each snapped our attention to the field again, hearing an explosion that we'd all failed to pay attention to. Red flinched at the sound and Ethan kept smiling, patting his shoulder. "You're still easy to scare no matter where we are, Red," he teased and Red narrowed his eyes at him instantly.

"_That was amazing! Kecleon is down and out for the count! Black has taken the lead again with five to four!"_

"Aww, we missed the 'amazing' thing," Rosa whined. She set her eyes back onto the battle, intending to pay attention to the match now along with the others.

"Go, Metagross!" I watched as Black blink a little in confusion but quickly hid any trace from his face.

"_Brendan has chosen Metagross to take Kecleon's place!"_

"Excadrill, use Earthquake!"

Brendan frowned, shouting, "Metagross, use Magnet Rise!" Black frowned but when Metagross remained unharmed from the powerful ground-type move, I started counting down from five more ground-type moves, but it seemed like the other two did as well. "Now use Hammer Arm!"

"Dig, Excadrill!"

Hammer Arm landed on empty ground and Excadrill appeared from the ground on the other side of the field, safely away from any other Hammer Arms. "Metagross, use Bullet Punch!"

Before Excadrill could even dodge, Metagross pounded Excadrill with quick, light punches that made the mole stumble backwards but obeyed another Earthquake that Metagross was immune to for another two moves. Excadrill used another Earthquake and when Brendan ordered a Zen Headbutt, he only dodged with a final Dig.

Black smiled when the countdown was over, knowing that Metagross couldn't dodge another ground-type move. "Quickly, Excadrill, use Drill Run!"

"Metagross, Magn—"

Excadrill burst out of the ground, spinning at an unbelievable speed and hit Metagross hard in the middle before Brendan could finish 'Magnet Rise,' making Metagross cry out in what was clearly a critical hit when it struggled to get back up. "Metagross! Use Psychic! Bring Excadrill close to you!"

Metagross' eyes glowed and Excadrill's body glowed the same color and as he struggled, Black seemed to know what Brendan was up to, gritting his teeth together. "Excadrill, try getting out with Rapid Spin!" He grinned when it worked, Metagross struggling to keep a hold of the rapid form. "Great, now finish Metagross off with Earthquake!"

Brendan shouted something when the dust rose again, but it faded soon and he sighed softly, returning Metagross.

"_Metagross is down! Excadrill has taken two of Brendan's pokemon, who will he choose next?!"_

That was when I saw Brendan frown, then tossed another pokéball out. "Go, Armaldo!" Another fossil pokemon? How many of them did these people have?

"_It's Armaldo! Another extinct pokemon brought back to life!"_

Excadrill was panting, growing tired but he seemed confident, as did Black. "Use Earthquake again!" Black ordered.

"Armaldo, Protect!" Brendan smiled when the attack was done then shouted, "Use Brine!"

Water exploded from the bug, shooting straight at Excadrill, who tried to dodge but shouted in pain when he was hit, and it was likely he hardly had any health left when he fainted. Black soon tossed another pokéball and before it had even opened, he was yelling, "Samurott, Retaliate!"

The blue pokemon appeared and quickly slammed its horn into Armaldo, making him slam into the ground near Brendan. "Armaldo!" Armaldo got up shakily, wincing but stayed up nonetheless.

The announcer was growing excited again and I swished my tail in annoyance as he said, _"Wow! Retaliate doubles the damage when the previous pokemon has fainted, and Samurott has dealt a lot of damage against Armaldo! How much more can Armaldo take?"_

Both Black and Brendan seemed to be ignoring the voice, though Brendan looked at his pokemon. "You okay?" Armaldo nodded and Brendan smiled, looking back at Samurott, his regal eyes glaring down at Armaldo. "Then use Crush Claw!"

"Aqua Jet, Samurott!" Armaldo was too slow, and he was hit by the quick water attack and hit the ground again. "Now use Aqua Tail!" Poor Armaldo stood no chance against Samurott, I could tell Samurott has had a lot of training and was just far too quick for Armaldo, and I blinked, tapping my chin. Samurott and Black acted a lot like Red and I in my opinion. It seemed as if they had been together through many things which included predicting what moves our trainers would use next and remaining friends during the process. I looked up as Red scratched my head, smiling a little. It was easy to tell which pokemon were a trainer's starters, especially at our level.

"Mightyena, go!"

"_Black is in the lead still, with four pokemon and Brendan only has two! One of which is Mightyena, the bite pokemon!"_

Black eyed Mightyena, and Samurott seemed to already know which move to use as he rushed forward. "Samurott, Mega Horn!"

Brendan grinned suddenly. "Use Sucker Punch!"

Mightyena jumped up out of the way of a startled Samurott, then with two glowing back paws, used one kick to kick underneath Samurott's chin and the second to send him flying. I inwardly winced; that had to hurt. Samurott got up, however, looking like it had been nothing but an annoyance, giving a roar. Mightyena ignored the intimidating sound, playing it cool as she wagged her tail once. She then used Howl to increase her attack when directed to by Brendan.

"Samurott, use Aqua Jet to get up close!" Black said suddenly and I tilted my head. If he used moves that attacked and Mightyena could use Sucker Punch, wouldn't that just mean he was going to get kicked away like before? I watched as Brendan ordered another Sucker Punch, but he looked surprised when Samurott didn't finish the move and instead changed it to Swords Dance. "Now! Mega Horn!"

Mightyena howled in pain, the super-effective move making her shake as she got up. "Mightyena, use Crunch!"

"Use Hydro Pump!"

As Mightyena leaped to use Crunch, Samurott didn't try to dodge as he fired the powerful water move, sending her into the sky and finally she fell, hitting the ground hard and didn't get up.

"_Mightyena has fainted! Brendan has one more pokemon left! He needs to be careful now!"_

Brendan returned Mightyena while Samurott stood there proudly in front of Black, and finally tossed his final pokéball. "Tile!" the green pokemon cried. Then I noticed a very similar gem that Gardevoir had worn and I blinked. So save the best for last? That was a good idea, I suppose. Brendan rose his left arm, brushing his hand against the small gem embedded into his armband around his wrist and soon the similar purple glow came again. Black's eyes widened a bit, not expecting the mega evolution.

"_Mega Sceptile! Has Brendan been holding out on us this entire time?!"_

Mega Sceptile gave a loud cry, the many seeds on his back suddenly glowing and fired into the air towards Samurott as Brendan said, "Bullet Seed, Sceptile!"

"Samurott, dodge them!"

"Leaf Storm!"

"Hydro Pump!"

The two attacks collided with each other, though it seemed that Leaf Storm was pushing through the water and finally hit Samurott, who cried out when he was hit and shook his head as he got up again, growing tired.

"_It seems like Sceptile and Samurott's power are even!"_

Black seemed to notice too, but he smiled soon. "Samurott, jump up into the air and use Ice Beam! Freeze the ground!" Samurott obeyed and Sceptile danced around to avoid being hit with the blast. He seemed to be having a little trouble staying upright, though when Samurott landed on the ground, he didn't seem to find as much trouble on the icy field, using the ice to his advantage to suddenly skate forward. It seemed like they've had practice on icy fields.

Lucky us, we did too.

"Mega Horn!" Black commanded.

"Sceptile, use Leaf Blade! Block it!" The leaves on Sceptile's arm grew sharp and glowed green, quickly blocking the horn and the two struggled to overpower each other before quickly trying to hit each other with their attacks, blocking and parrying in a very sword-fight like dance. It was the ice that hindered Sceptile though, his foot slipping suddenly and his eyes widened as Samurott shouted and slammed the horn in his middle, making him hit the ground hard.

Sceptile grunted as he got up, trying to find his footing as his arm returned to normal and Samurott's horn did as well. "Samurott, use Aqua Jet!"

"Use Detect!"

Samurott was left trying to attack empty space as Detect helped Sceptile dodge the attack though the ground became slippery from the ice, leaving him struggling to regain his footing. "Samurott, finish it with Ice Beam!"

Samurott cried out loudly as he sent the powerful beam and Sceptile shouted in pain, and seemed to hesitate before collapsing, reverting to his normal form. The cheers were loud as Brendan sighed, returning Sceptile and the announcer declaring Black the winner. Black smiled and hugged Samurott, who smiled in return and allowed his trainer to recall him. The two shook hands and went through the same door they'd come out of.

White smiled happily, nodding her approval. "Seems like Black finally figured out he shouldn't be distracted during a battle," she said to no one in particular.

Red's mother smiled as she turned to the trainers. "I'm sure you're all starving by now, so what do you kids want for lunch?"

We looked at the door when it opened soon, far too soon for Black and Brendan to already be there and there stood a very familiar blond trainer, smiling gray eyes. "Oh, hello Cynthia!" Red's mother said cheerfully. "I was just about to go get the kids some lunch for what happened earlier today."

Cynthia blinked but nodded. "And here I was about to invite you to lunch with Diantha and I."

Red's mother smiled, shaking her head. "I'll have to decline today, I have to get them something to eat—"

"You know, we can get our own lunches," White said and smiled as Red's mother blinked. Red nodded at her.

"Yeah, go have fun. Pallet Town is boring and it's rare for someone to have lunch with a champion or two," Blue said with his own nod as Rosa smiled and Nate gave an agreeing sound.

Red's mother looked a little guilty, but soon brightened up, reaching into her pocket. "Then here. Go get yourselves some lunch. Red, I'll be back in time to watch your match, okay?" She handed him the money and he stood up, shaking his head at her and she blinked. "Why not? I'm your mother, so take this and at least take White out for lunch with you."

He instantly blushed and Cynthia blinked, smiling. "Oh, just listen to your mother. A man should take a woman out occasionally."

"We aren't dating!" White shouted again, making everyone else laugh at how dense they were acting.

Red gave a sigh and finally took the bills his mother nearly shoved into his face and put them into his pocket. Even I knew he wouldn't use it and would only give it back to her once we returned to the hotel. Satisfied, his mother left with Cynthia, waving at us with a good luck. I looked at Red as he flinched, Blue's hand landed on his shoulder. "Outside, now." Red blinked and I did as well, following them out the door. Once the door was shut, Blue cross his arms across his chest. "Just do what your mom says and take White out to lunch, I heard you ask her on a date the other night. Consider this a first date."

He smiled as Red's face turned a bright shade of pink, rubbing his head nervously.

"I've never seen you act like this towards someone else, so just listen to all of us and go on the damn date already. It doesn't even have to be today, you could just walk with her to a restaurant, pick up food and come back with extra for us. Your mom did give it to you for that. She can go with you to help carry some of it. That's your excuse."

Red sighed. "Espeon called it 'OGAD,'" he mumbled and Blue blinked.

"Yeah, about that. What does it mean?"

Red hesitated, his face pink again. "She said—well, it means Operation: Get a Date."

Blue stated before bursting out into laughter. "See?! Even your pokemon think you should be dating each other and it's only been a few days!" I bobbed my head up and down in agreement and Red just sighed again. "Just think about it. I can give you other tips if you need them."

My trainer narrowed his eyes, his look clearly saying, _'It's not like you've ever had a girlfriend.'_

Blue shrugged as if he could read his mind. "I'm a gym leader, have no time for anything else, really. Besides, I have more social skills than you and girls throw themselves at me so I have no worries." He opened the door and Red sighed, looked at me and went back inside as I snickered, following him. Blue looked at White. "Red's probably going to need help carrying food back and you seem to know all the best places to eat, so why don't you two go and get food? Red's mom looked guilty that she couldn't get it herself."

"Yeah, but she looked exhausted from this morning's events, so I'm glad she's going to relax with Cynthia and Diantha instead," Rosa said and earned a nod from Ethan.

"Have fun, lovebirds!" he said.

"Shut up!" White snapped but got up anyhow, her face red as she left the box, waiting for Red outside. Red walked after her and I followed beside Red, going down the stairs first. We passed Black and Brendan on the way there, each of them saying that they were also hungry and left us be to go back to the box. Red and White were quiet for the trip through the stadium and once outside, she tapped her chin. "So there is a burger joint close by that's good. Let's go there, I guess." She looked up at Red as he nodded, following her.

I nudged Red's leg, urging him to start talking and he looked at me with an annoyed look that I returned. Finally he gave in and looked at White. "I was serious about the other night," he said and watched White's face turn pink again. "After the tournament. Do you want to go on a date somewhere?" He was blushing as he asked, and I smiled, happy that he was brave enough to ask again. He really didn't need to though, I figured he was nervous and had nothing else to say.

She nodded. "I've already said yes, dummy. And I know you've never been to Unova before, so I'll help you plan something fun, okay?"

He nodded. Made sense, even though he was the one asking he had no idea what fun there was to do around here, and I suppose half the fun would be planning it together. Oh, Espeon is going to love this information tonight.

"Tonight after you do your researching or whatever thing with Brendan come to my room. I'm on the first floor, room four. Sound like a plan?"

He nodded again and looked up as they stopped in front of a restaurant. The clerk at the window seemed to be excited to see us, happily taking the order White gave and Red paid for it with his own money like I thought he would, though White noticed, smiling her approval. "You aren't going to use the money your mom gave you?"

Red shook his head. "I have enough of my own from all the battles I had. I don't want her to spend money she doesn't have to." As we waited for the meals to cook, White sighed, hearing the cheering from the stadium as Lance and Steven's battle started. Red rose a brow at her.

"I'm just worried about Team Plasma is all," she said softly and Red frowned and gave her a thoughtful nod. "I'm so confused about them. What are they planning? If they're trying to get Zekrom and Reshiram again, then my brother is in danger, just as much as Rosa."

Red hesitated, looking at the now bright sky and I blinked, then looked up and knew what he was thinking. Sure, we had released the birds of Kanto, and they were probably nothing compared to the dragons of Unova, but two other pokemon he had caught and released were still out there. White noticed the look and became confused.

"What's wrong?"

Red looked at her and then up again. "I caught pokemon I shouldn't have in Kanto," he said quietly. "One was an ancient pokemon and another was a man-made creation. Mew and Mewtwo."

White's eyes widened. At least she knew what those pokemon were. "You _caught_ Mew?!"

"I released her."

White relaxed. "Why?"

"Because she acted too much like Espeon," he said jokingly but sighed. That was partly true, she would always constantly bother us even when we hadn't caught her. She claimed she had only agreed to being caught to avoid being caught by other trainers in the future, as did Mewtwo. "Because she said she had some all important thing to do and Mewtwo wanted to help, so I let them go. I wasn't planning on keeping them either, but they said if anything happened to me, then I could call on them for help. I might be asking for their help. But they're psychics, I don't know how well they'd be able to do to get through the Bisharp."

White grinned suddenly and Red blinked. "Then I guess we need to have Black and Rosa let you meet Zekrom and Reshiram! I'm sure they'll be able to help you with something!"

The clerk at the window called our number, letting us know that the meals were all ready but Red and I hardly heard him the second time. Whatever White had up her sleeve with Zekrom would be interesting, and I couldn't wait to find out what it was.

X-X-X


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **An update that's super fast?! Whaaaat? I was even busy with ESO!

**seeker421:** Much appreciated! Glad you found it too :)

**fluffpenguin:** I know, but with the way I want the story to progress to, I needed Brendan to lose but he'll play a bigger part later. He and May have the legendaries, but we'll find out later who has what and why ;)

* * *

_11_

_Pikachu_

Legendary pokemon hardly interfered with human affairs. Hearing about Zekrom and Reshiram made me wonder about what role they played and why they would choose human heroes but even though legendary hardly ever stepped in, there were times and a few pokemon that were willing to let themselves be seen by humans.

Bonding with them? Unheard of. However, there were a few exceptions. None of us had even told Blue that Red had gained the trust of the three birds of Kanto, Mewtwo and Mew after saving them from Team Rocket and their experimentations. As we all know, Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres all flew off to do their own thing (but I still firmly believe Moltres keeps an eye on us when we're at Mount Silver), but we had never intended on _traveling_ with any of them.

Mew had been caught by Team Rocket and had only just escaped from Celadon City, but she claimed that she watched Red defeat them in Saffron City and take down the organization in Viridian City and decided to follow us around. I would catch glimpses of her during our travels until one day she outright showed herself to us and greeted us properly. Red hadn't asked for her help, but on multiple occasions, the pink cat was teleporting us to safety and far from any danger that would have put us in our early graves. She claimed that because we helped take down Team Rocket, she would in turn help us. Mew hardly ever stayed to chat, but one day she decided to travel with us for a month after we'd defeated Blue at the Indigo Plateau, claiming she enjoyed our company.

She had decided Espeon was her new best friend, as the two would run off to get into mischief, causing trouble for Red and headaches for me. On occasions when we walked or biked to and from cities, I would take my usual perch on Red's right shoulder and Mew would suddenly teleport onto Red's left, startling the human enough to make her hold her sides, laugh and wipe her eyes when she was done. She claimed she had never gotten attached to a human before, saying that for some reason Red was different than all the others she'd met.

To me, that sounded almost like Charizard. After all, he didn't really like Red or any other human for that matter at first—hell, not even me but we all opened up and didn't want to let go.

When we learned about Mewtwo hiding out in a cave near Cerulean City, Red was the one who comforted her fears and even though she was stubborn and said she wasn't afraid of 'some human creation,' she seemed relieved that Red and the rest of us were going to at least try to calm him down. She had refused to go inside the cave with us and so we went in to find Team Rocket's creation without her. With a ride from Blastoise, we reached the other side of the cave easily, and standing in the middle was a two-legged creature and pissed that a human of all things came into the cave unannounced.

He attacked us instantly and Blastoise snatched our trainer from the spot that would have been his last. Following that lucky escape, we had an intense battle and I'm not sure how long it lasted, but near the end, all of us were exhausted, ready to just fall over and _sleep_. The rest of the team had fainted by then but I was still in front of Red, panting hard as he wiped his forehead. I knew that if I, too, decided to take a nap, Red would be killed by the overpowered psychic.

Mewtwo's eyes glowed suddenly, and I had been thrown far from Red, near the other side of the island we were on. Red had shouted, _"Pikachu!"_ and he ran to try and catch me before I hit the ground while Mewtwo looked on with his intense gaze. Red wouldn't have caught me in time anyway, so I simply had closed my eyes and braced for the impact. I was too tired to care.

When no pain came, I was confused and opened my eyes again. Red looked just as startled as me as I was gently lowered into his arms with Psychic, and we both turned to Mewtwo. _"Why did you run after him instead of worrying about yourself?" _Mewtwo had asked telepathically, looking almost as confused as we were. _"You—a human, who use us pokemon as tools such as they do—would risk your life for one?"_

We both knew who 'they' were. This creation had absolutely no regards for Team Rocket and they had been the only humans he'd been in contact with. I understood why he hated humans so much now but I had no answer for Red and remained silent as he looked at me, relieved that I was all right.

Finally he looked up, still holding me gently, almost afraid that if he made any sudden movements he would break a bone of mine and said, "Pikachu isn't a tool. He isn't a 'thing' that is here for show. None of my pokemon are. They are a part of my family and being a part of my family, I would sacrifice myself if I had to."

Mewtwo paused as he took in his words and then nodded once in approval. _"I see now that you are not like the other humans. You are different than they are."_ He turned his head and looked towards the shore, staring at something.

We followed his gaze, seeing Mew floating there above the water, a calm look on her face as she flew towards us. _"I have been following him for a few months now. There are many, many humans are just as wonderful and kind as he is. Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres have all gained his trust as well, you may go see them if you wish to confirm it,"_ she had told him, floating down so that she was sitting on Red's head, much to his annoyance even as she smiled. _"Plus, he makes a comfortable seat."_ That much I agreed with even as Red rolled his eyes at Mew.

Mewtwo finally nodded again, and then around. _"More humans could come here. Team Rocket—"_

"_Team Rocket is no more,"_ I told him, perching on Red's shoulder now. _"They won't come after you again."_

Mew perked up, hovering in front of Mewtwo. _"Red gave me a pokéball,"_ she said, her pokéball coming into her tiny hands from out of nowhere. Despite her childish nature and playful attitude, she had her moments of when I had to remember that she was a legendary, sounding far older as she kept speaking with her clone. I still wonder how he is a clone when, you know, he's taller than Red and she's only a little bigger than I am and doesn't 'clone' mean that you'd also be the same gender? I decided to stop thinking about it a long time ago. _"They keep us safe from any trainer who would try and catch us. It would keep you safe from anyone else. If you accept, will you help me?"_ She smiled at Mewtwo, who was hesitant and remained still._ "I'm on an important mission. I want to help other pokemon—no matter if they have been hurt by humans, in battles, or even by natural causes. I have already helped so many and I really do need help too. Kanto is a very big place. The world is even bigger."_

Mewtwo looked at Red and I and Red reached into his pocket, pulling out an empty ultra ball and clicked the button so it could go to its normal size. He held it out for him and Mewtwo didn't even hesitate to let himself enter it. Once it had shown the capture was complete, Red released him and handed it to him with a smile.

"_Thank you, Red. You as well, Pikachu. If either of you or any of your... family needs help, I will be there to do what I can,"_ he told us as he took the ultra ball in his three fingers, though it soon disappeared. Mew nodded, letting us know that she would help as well. Afterwards, she teleported us to Cerulean City's pokemon center, and I noticed it was dark. She had giggled at our shock, then soon explained that it had been two days since we entered the cave. No wonder we were so exhausted.

She waved us good bye and flew up into the sky, where Mewtwo was waiting and they both teleported away. We haven't seen either of them since then.

I figured Mew must be busy helping the pokemon she wanted, and I didn't mind.

At least Mewtwo wasn't a raging psycho-mon anymore.

X-X-X

The cheers were loud as Steven and Lance's battle raged on, and even from here at the restaurant, I could see a Dragonite fly up, a very familiar orange dot in the sky even as it dove towards whatever opponent was on the ground. Red wasn't paying attention to the sky as we walked back towards the stadium, carefully holding four boxes of food while White carried the other four and both of them were precariously balancing them as we walked.

As we walked, White filled the silence with the story of her journey with Black, how they both went to get the eight badges and so on, claiming that run-ins with Team Plasma were mere annoyances. She told us that even though she and Black had separated for only a short amount of time, when they reunited, there was indeed something very different about her brother. I could only assume he had also seen or experienced something he hadn't wanted to, and knew that if he ever wanted, he would speak to White about it. Red didn't push the subject, remaining silent as White changed the subject to something silly, a one-sided conversation that I didn't pay attention to, but I knew Red was listening to every word she said.

We reached the stadium again after almost an hour, the walk itself took almost fifteen minutes there and back—including fighting through crowds, ordering and receiving said food—and even though we could have used Charizard to fly us back and forth, they decided to walk, wanting to spend as much time together until we had to face the others again. The security outside held the doors to the stairs open for us with a 'thank you' from White and nod from Red and I led the way up, waiting for them at the third floor.

It was a late lunch for all of us, it was nearly four by the time we reached the third floor and Red had to kick the door to have someone open it. Eagerly awaiting food, it was answered almost instantly by Ethan, holding it for White, Red and I. I noticed Nate and Brendan were gone, and Blue briefly explained that they were getting drinks as if he knew we hadn't gotten any from the take-out restaurant. Red sighed in relief when three of the four boxes in his hands were distributed, sitting down to eat quickly—we had to be down in the waiting room by 4:30, 4:40 at the latest. I knew not to eat too much, else I wanted to risk a stomachache in the middle of battle and as we all ate, I nibbled on one of the fries in Red's box, watching Steven and Lance battle below.

It seemed like it had been an intense match, both Lance and Steven were getting worked up over the battle, with a panting, tired Dragonite hovering above the ground in front of Lance and another one of those extinct pokemon on Steven's side, a Cradily. The crowds were watching with eagerness, all of them waiting to see who would make the next move as Brendan and Nate came back, distributing bottled soda to the rest of the humans.

"So, basically, Steven is kicking Lance's ass," said Ethan out of nowhere and cracked open a soda, his meal sitting in his lap.

I was just as startled as Red and we snapped our attention to him. As destroyed as the field was and as focused as the two champions were, Lance was _losing?_

He ignored our looks, taking a drink and kept his eyes locked on the field. "Lance has already lost Gyarados, Charizard and Salamence and Dragonite is about to faint; Steven's only lost Armaldo." He's got one too? Armaldo must be popular back in Hoenn, I guess.

"Yea, my expression too," Blue added, noticing the look of shock on Red's face.

"Well if I can lose, he can lose too," Nate mumbled almost bitterly as his sister rolled her eyes.

"Don't be a sore loser, Nate," Rosa scolded.

"I'm not being a sore loser, just stating the facts."

"Is Lance some awesome guy in Johto?" White asked curiously through a mouthful of hamburger and almost instantly Black handed her a napkin that she accepted. "Never heard of him before."

Ethan nodded. "He's famous in Kanto too. He's considered to be the world's greatest dragon master. At this point though, I'm sure Claire is either rolling around in laughter or angry that he is losing and 'putting shame on the family name,'" he replied, making quote signals with both index and middle fingers. "It's hard to tell with her."

Black blinked and asked, "Is she his sister?"

He laughed. "Hardly, she's his cousin. I don't know if they like each other or if they hate each other. I mean, they work well together and they're like an unstoppable force together like Red and Blue. But separate, they're out for blood, I swear."

"I wouldn't take it _that _far," Blue said, wiping his hands and tossing the napkin in his empty box.

Brendan smiled and said proudly, "Steven's a specialist in this kind of battle and prefers defense over speed. He's a geologist and knows a whole hell of a lot about rock- and steel-type pokemon. He even gave me Metagross when it was just a little Beldum. Dragon-type pokemon are no match for him."

"And here I was actually hoping Lance would win for once—" Blue started, but he was interrupted when Lance suddenly commanded, "Dragonite, Outrage!"

I looked at the field, seeing Dragonite's eyes glow red, and an exploding power coming out straight for Cradily.

Steven instantly ordered his defense, "Cradily, use Protect!" I saw the shield come up and then I saw the roots coming from Cradily's feet. Ingrain, a move that would make its user immobile but gain health over time. Cradily hardly looked damaged at all, now that I noticed, and when the Outrage hit the Protect, Cradily cried out loudly to use Brine.

Dragonite gave a loud, pained cry and hit the ground, not getting up and instantly the announcer shouted, _"Dragonite is down! Steven is still in the lead with five to two! Which pokemon will Lance send out next?"_

There were many cheers and Steven gave a sigh of relief as Dragonite was recalled though the relief was short lived and his eyes widened slightly when the pokemon that took Dragonite's place let out a piercing roar. It completely blue with a red stomach, a gold star on its head and looked like a land Sharpedo; with the fins on its back and arms, it was hard not to see the relation.

"_It's Garchomp!"_

"Garchomp, use Earthquake!" Lance yelled. Garchomp roared again, though this time the field shook violently and even Cradily looked like it had trouble staying there but it cried out in pain and it panted when the Earthquake finished. It was clear he was trying to break the Ingrain, and it seemed as if it worked.

"Cradily, Energy Ball!"

"Counter with Dragon Rage!"

The dragon-shaped white energy seemed to swallow the Energy Ball, and hit Cradily with full force. It panted as Garchomp's claws started glowing again with the ever-predictable, "Dragon Claw!"

The Protect Cradily tried to use failed, and Steven smiled a little when Cradily fainted, returning his pokemon soon with a soft, "Good job, Cradily."

"_Lance is catching up! Steven now has four pokemon he may use!"_

Steven threw in another pokéball after clipping Cradily's to his belt. "Skarmory, go!"

The iron bird gave a screech once it appeared, taking to the sky quickly as Garchomp kept his eyes on Skarmory, soon jumping and flying up to meet him, his two claws glowing again. "Dragon Claw!" Lance watched as Skarmory dodged every move, flying higher with another Agility and I craned my neck to keep watching, seeing that somehow Skarmory was higher in the sky than Garchomp.

"Skarmory, Metal Sound!" Steven bellowed, trying to make his voice heard by the steel bird. Skarmory flared its iron feathers and a shrill sound came from them along with a cry that made Garchomp cover his ears. I narrowed my eyes in annoyance and Red patted my head with a free hand as I made a complaining noise. Sometimes I curse the sensitive hearing that I have.

"Garchomp, Dragon Rush!" Garchomp was encased in a bubble of orange-red energy, flying quickly up for Skarmory, who only looked annoyed at the dragon.

"Brave Bird, Skarmory!" Skarmory also started to glow a whitish-red around itself, diving straight down to meet Garchomp. I was in awe as Skarmory skillfully avoided Dragon Rush and hit Garchomp from behind. Skarmory then twisted its body somehow to be back above Garchomp, using Steel Wing to slam Garchomp into the ground.

Skarmory's attack must have been wicked, Garchomp didn't get back up and with a soft grunt, Lance returned Garchomp. "You see? We have to be extremely careful in this tournament. Who knows what Serena has up her sleeve," Blue said, watching as Lance clipped Garchomp's pokéball to his belt. Red was only half-listening, finishing his lunch as I took my railing seat again. "Steven really is kicking his ass."

"I think we've already established that," White said with a roll of her eyes.

"Your match is soon, Red. You ready for it?" Ethan asked with a grin and Red nodded once, watching Lance toss Altaria's pokéball out. Altaria gave a gentle cooing noise, cotton-like wings keeping herself afloat with ease.

"_Altaria has entered the battle!"_ the announcer said over the cheering audience.

Lance immediately ordered, "Altaria, use Safeguard!"

"Skarmory, Night Slash!"

"Dodge it and use Dragon Dance!" Altaria flapped her strong wings twice, getting out of the way of the dark-type move and just as Gyarados had been, encased herself in the black and red light before it faded. "Now Cotton Guard!"

Steven's eye twitched. I knew that Skarmory was a physical attacker, and with physical defense greatly raised, he would hardly put a dent in Altaria now. With that knowledge, he grabbed Skarmory's pokéball. "Return, Skarmory!"

Lance frowned and we all waited to see which pokemon Lance would send out next as he grabbed another pokéball and threw it quickly. "Go, Metagross!"

As another Metagross took the field, the announcer shouted, _"Steven has switched Altaria for Metagross! This doesn't look good for Altaria at all."_

"Altaria, use another Dragon Dance," Lance told Altaria, who nodded and soon used the stat changing move again.

I noticed the gem Metagross held but Steven didn't even bother touching his own mega stone, in favor of shouting, "Metagross, Bullet Punch!"

I voiced my own confusion alongside the others in the box. Why would Steven switch out Skarmory if he was a physical attacker anyway? I suppose the champion had a plan in mind, since Lance also looked confused for a moment even as Bullet Punch hit Altaria. "Altaria, get into the sky!"

"Metagross, don't let Altaria get away! Psychic!" Steven shouted and Metagross obeyed as Altaria screeched in objection, struggling against the glow surrounding her body and kept doing so as Metagross pulled the dragon from the sky until she was in front of him. Inwardly, I winced. I knew what a strong Psychic felt like and no matter how strong, it always was painful and I felt some sympathy for Altaria as she struggled against Metagross' power.

"Altaria, Dragon Pulse—"

"Hyper Beam!"

Dragon Pulse was easily overcome by the point-blank Hyper Beam and Metagross released Altaria, letting her hit the ground. Guess that's why he switched. I saw Brendan wince—quite possibly because he'd been a victim of that strategy as well—and heard a few of the champions behind me give a slight, "Oh!" as they realized why Steven had switched.

Cotton Guard raised physical defense. Hyper Beam was a special attack, and Altaria stood no chance against it. She didn't get up and Lance hesitated as the cheers erupted and he recalled Altaria, smiling at the pokéball before clipping it to his belt as well. With his precious dragons lost, Metagross gave a loud roar of victory before Steven recalled him.

Blue seemed to be stunned towards Steven's victory, leaning against his seat. "Damn, I knew Lance was going to lose, but I didn't realize how hard," he said as Brendan smiled again.

"I figured Steven would win. From what I saw, Lance relies too much on being in the air. Steven saw that and took his chance," he explained as Steven and Lance shook hands. "Steven didn't even use Metagross' mega evolution. Mega Metagross is difficult to take down, for anyone."

"It's just someone else to look out for in the tournament," Black added as Rosa nodded.

"_Dragon Master Lance has been defeated by Steven! Steven will move onto the second round! For our last battle of the day, we will find out who will be the next to move on! Champion Red versus Champion Serena!"_

I could've sworn the cheers were suddenly so much louder and White also noticed, looking towards myself and Red with a curious look in her eyes. "So why are they cheering so loud? Do you never show yourself in public or something?" she asked.

"Usually if you want to battle him for the champion title, you have to scale Mount Silver," Ethan said. "He hardly ever comes down the mountain for social greetings and such."

"You'd be surprised how often he comes to Pallet Town. Neither of us really like doing interviews for radios or TV stations or whatever, so it's been a while since people have seen him," Blue said with a grin as Red rolled his eyes at the sudden attention. I looked over as Red as he tried to ignore the sudden attention, sinking into his seat a bit more.

Black noticed and he laughed, as did White, though her eyes lit up with mischief. "What, you nervous Red?" she teased, grinning as Red narrowed his eyes at her.

Ethan laughed as well. "He's anything but that," he said. "He just doesn't like the attention."

I didn't know that I could agree with Ethan twice in one day. I laughed to myself and jumped from my railing seat onto Red's lap as White gave a slight smile, but it slowly faded as she spoke. "He talked a lot when we were waiting for the burgers. I was telling him that maybe Reshiram and Zekrom could help us figure out what Team Plasma wants."

Black and Rosa looked at each other with confusion, not understanding as they looked at White. "I don't know if they would know anything, Reshiram's been with me the entire time," Rosa said skeptically, taking out a shiny pokéball from her pocket; it looked like it had hardly been used. "Why do you think they would know something?"

"Because they were with Team Plasma for a time, yeah? Maybe we can get clues from them from past occurrences."

"About what?" Black asked, growing a little frustrated as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Anything! Anything they would know as to why Team Plasma would wait this long to strike again—"

"I doubt they would know anything," Nate spoke up. I watched as he sat up a bit, all eyes turned towards him. "Kyurem would, though. I could go see him and ask if he knows anything. He should be at the Giant Chasm. It isn't far, I can Fly there tonight after the matches."

"Well, you wouldn't mind company, right?" Brendan asked with a hopeful smile. "I'm sure the others want to as well." There were nods all around and Nate hesitated.

"I don't think so. The thing is, Kyurem doesn't really trust humans. He trusts me only because I got him out of Neo-Team Plasma's ship." Well that sounded familiar. I looked up at Red as recognition came to his eyes and he looked at me with a pat on my head. "I'll have to think about it, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I'm with you guys."

Ethan grinned. "Sweet. I can't wait until the battles are over," he said as Red rolled his eyes at him.

White nodded then smiled. "And Red said that he could also ask Mewtwo and Mew for help on this—what?" She received an extremely shocked look from Blue, who in turn looked at Red, who ignored the look as best he could. The others were also startled, an amazed look coming from their faces. "You didn't tell Blue did you?" she asked sheepishly and Red shrugged. "Oops. Well, he knows now."

"What do she mean you can ask _Mew_ and _Mewtwo_ for help?!" Blue exclaimed, jumping to his feet as Red watched him with a bored look. "Do you mean that you caught them? Do you realize how long people have been looking for Mew?!"

Red only shrugged again, not seeming to care as he remained slouched in his seat.

"How did you even see it?"

Red sighed, knowing all attention was on him again, excited and all wanting to hear the story. He opened his mouth to say something else but stopped when the door opened, showing a human wearing a STAFF shirt and sporting very bright blue hair, looking nervous to see so many champions all in one place. "Red, you have ten minutes until you go up, you were supposed to be downstairs twenty minutes ago," she said and Ethan suddenly burst out laughing, causing the poor woman to look confused and almost embarrassed.

"He's always late for everything! Tell us when you're done with the match then, promise?" Ethan said and Red finally gave a nod, walking towards the door.

"Good luck! We'll be rooting for you!" White said with a smile, waving at him. He waved back and followed the woman down the stairs towards the basement. We skipped the waiting room in favor of going straight for the podium that would raise us to the field and along the way, the woman hurriedly explained the rules we already knew. Red seemed to tune her out once we were standing on the podium, leaning against the rail with a jaded expression. With that being his most common face of late, I rolled my eyes at him and looked at the woman who noticed and looked a little annoyed that he wasn't paying attention.

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and went to the controls instead, waiting for the queue to press that green button. Red gave a slight smirk at me and then looked up when we heard the loud roaring of the crowd from above. He got off the rail and turned around so that we would face Serena when we were above ground. _"This is the final match of today! Please welcome Kalos Champion, Serena, and Kanto Champion, Red!"_ the announcer said, and cheers soon grew from the crowds and I looked behind as the lady pressed the button to open the doors above us.

"Good luck!" she said before pressing the button that took us above the ground as Red put on his blank, emotionless face again. I'm still not too sure how he did that, he could be happy one moment and remove any emotion from his face and give out a strangely intimidating aura. It's a talent that I wasn't sure if I was proud of or disappointed about. Once we were above the ground, I could see how vast the crowd really was, all eyes were on us as we kept our own eyes on Serena. On the other side of the field, Serena grinned confidently, already holding a pokéball in her hand as we waited for the announcer.

"_You all already know that this is a six-on-six battle and that switches are allowed on both sides. Trainers, please release your pokemon!" _

With that, Red tossed Charizard's pokéball out onto the field as Serena threw hers with a loud, "Let's go, Meowstic!"

Charizard only gave a huff when he appeared, landing on the ground on all fours as a white and blue pokemon appeared on the other side, standing on two feet with a blue scarf around her neck and yellow eyes regarding Charizard with disdain. Her whole aura screamed that she was a psychic pokemon, especially with the way her ears were folded on her head, as if they were trying to keep something inside.

"_You may begin!"_

"Meowstic, use Light Screen!" Serena cried and soon Meowstic's eyes glowed faintly, an invisible shield surrounding her as her special defense rose. Charizard didn't even hesitate to use Inferno, successfully burning Meowstic in the process and remained on the ground. Serena frowned a little as Meowstic winced from the burn. "Meowstic, use Sucker Punch!"

Meowstic's paws began to glow but she seemed surprised when Charizard suddenly took off, a black gas coming out of his mouth and covered the field with Smokescreen.

"_It looks like Sucker Punch has failed! With such low visibility, how can Meowstic even see?!"_

Red directed Charizard to fly back down into the smoke; Charizard dove quickly, his claws glowing with Shadow Claw and disappeared into the Smokescreen. "Meowstic, look out! Use Psychic!" Serena looked worried as Meowstic gave a cry of pain instead, then when the smoke finally cleared, Meowstic was still up, though shaking as she panted. "Meowstic, hang in there! Use Charge Beam!"

Charge Beam was instantly met with Flamethrower as Charizard landed on the ground once again on all fours, though Flamethrower soon grew into Heat Wave, which easily pushed through Charge Beam. Meowstic screeched in pain, and soon fainted from the burn she'd gotten from Inferno while Charizard snorted, surprised at how easy it was to defeat Meowstic. I was too, swishing my tail as Serena recalled Meowstic.

"_Meowstic has fainted! It looks as if Red is living up to his reputation of the undefeated champion of Kanto! Who will Serena send out next?"_

Red looked a little annoyed and I snickered a bit at him as the crowd cheered. As far as reputations went, at least it was the only rumor that was true. Unless you count the Ekans incident from the beginning of our journey. Pushing that thought aside, I turned my eyes up towards the box we were just in, noticing Red's mother was there and looked extremely proud of her son, smiling from ear to ear as she waved the moment she noticed I saw her. I returned my attention to the field as I saw a blue pokemon take the field, one that we recognized: a Vaporeon.

The eevee-lution swished his tail calmly, looking at Charizard with confidence as the announcer shouted, _"It's Vaporeon, one of the many evolutions Eevee can have! But being a water-type, will Red switch out Charizard?"_

We ignored him. Charizard had faced many great and powerful water-type pokemon before, Vaporeon was no different. Charizard stayed on the ground and kept his focus on Vaporeon as Red pointed to the sky. He fanned his wings open as he roared into the sky; the sun started to glare down onto the field and Vaporeon winced in the sudden light, looking annoyed that Charizard had used Sunny Day.

"Vaporeon, Aqua Ring!" Serena commanded and soon Vaporeon covered himself with a small ring of water but had to quickly jump to avoid another Inferno. "Acid Armor!"

"_Vaporeon has used Acid Armor! A defense move that will be difficult to get through!"_

Red frowned as the Acid Armor was used, though he snapped his fingers, directing Charizard to use Dragon Rage. As Dragon Rage exploded from Charizard, Serena rose a hand. "Vaporeon, dodge it and use Hydro Pump!"

Vaporeon, while not a fast pokemon, still managed to dodge the attack as Dragon Rage hit the ground, causing it to explode, sending dust and dirt flying everywhere. Charizard gave a roar of pain when Hydro Pump hit him, crashing into the field in front of Red, but he got up anyhow, growling now at Vaporeon, who smugly charged another Hydro Pump at Serena's command. Red nodded and Charizard obeyed the silent Dragon Pulse attack. The two attacks met each other in the middle, though it seemed they were even and Serena frowned as she noticed as well. "Vaporeon, back up and use Surf!"

Charizard instantly snapped his wings to get into the sky to try and avoid the strong attack, dousing himself in flames with Flare Blitz to get through a wave of water that he couldn't get through. Thank Blastoise for that, and I noticed Red smirk a little. Well, it was clear he had a plan in mind. Then I saw how much water was left over and how Vaporeon took advantage of the situation and dove into the water.

"_Vaporeon has used Surf and has become invisible in the water! How can Charizard hope to win this time?"_

Then I saw Charizard make a fist and dove straight for the water, much to the surprise of Serena. I could hear bouts of confusion from the crowd as well but from the corner of my eye, I saw Blue grin all the way from the box, knowing what Red was up to as well as I. Serena smiled anyway, not having a clue as to what the plan was. "Meet Charizard with Water Pulse!"

Then as I noticed something moving towards Charizard and break the surface, Charizard's fist suddenly started crackling with electricity, using a strong Thunderpunch, slamming Vaporeon out of the water and into dry land. Vaporeon cried out and startled, he shook his head and regained his footing, the Aqua Ring regaining some health. Red barely nodded and Charizard dove, though he didn't land and snapped his wings open to stay above ground, heading straight for Vaporeon before it turned into a barrel roll, using Flare Blitz. Vaporeon cried out in shock and pain as he was thrown into the sky.

"Vaporeon!" Serena cried out. "Vaporeon, use Muddy Water!"

Charizard was quicker, and though his tail was glowing brightly with Blaze, he used Wing Attack to send Vaporeon into the ground again. The force of the land created a small crater in the middle of the field, and Vaporeon remained in the middle, unmoving. Charizard panted and Serena hesitated as she returned Vaporeon, taking out her third pokéball.

Red's eyes narrowed once we saw the Absol, and although it was a completely different one, Charizard also snarled, baring teeth. Absol looked a little confused at the aggressiveness but I saw Serena raise a wrist and Red noticed as well. "Absol, let's do it!" she shouted and Absol gave his own cry as he glowed just as bright as the gem on Serena's wrist. When it was over, it seemed as though Absol now had wings, but upon closer inspection I saw it was simply fur that flared out in those directions.

I saw Red's eyes widen only slightly and I knew why. It was one thing to see a mega evolution from the stands but up close was completely different and honestly it was still awe-inspiring. But to those that didn't know better, they would see he kept the same face through the entire thing.

"_It's Mega Absol! Charizard has taken out both Meowstic and Vaporeon, but with that last battle, can Charizard defeat a mega evolved pokemon?!"_

I saw Charizard take to the sky quickly, firing a Fire Blast at Absol as Sunny Day faded.

Serena smiled. "Absol, use Magic Coat!" she shouted and Absol glowed a dim pink, and the Fire Blast simply bounced right off of his fur, hitting Charizard instead. Surprised, Charizard couldn't dodge, roaring as he crashed into the ground, shaking as he tried to get back up. "Finish Charizard off with Psycho Cut!"

Charizard managed to dodge one but the second hit, causing him to faint after that and the cheers were loud as Red got his pokeball. Serena seemed to be relieved though Red frowned as he returned the fire type. After seeing that, he knew he wouldn't be able to use any special attacks against Absol. I knew that Espeon and I were out of the count and Red took a hold of Snorlax's pokéball, tossing him out soon enough. Once released, Snorlax made a quiet sound, watching Absol as he smirked. I guess he assumed Snorlax would be an easy target. I laughed to myself a little bit. Boy, was he in for a surprise.

"_It's Snorlax! This has to be the fittest Snorlax we've ever seen!"_

Snorlax watched carefully as Absol quickly made his way to attack. "Absol, use Night Slash!" Serena shouted.

Absol rushed for Snorlax, his claws giving off a dark glow and just as he jumped into the air to attack, Snorlax took a single step back and dodged the attack. Absol grew frustrated after the second Night Slash didn't hit either.

"_It seems like Snorlax is much faster than anticipated!"_

I remembered Brendan's words from earlier, that slow and steady would win the race. All Snorlax had to do was tire out Absol, and if he could, he'd be doing this while eating berries galore. Arceus knows he did the same thing to me when we trained on Mount Silver. I smiled as Absol panted, jumping away with a glare on his face as Serena grunted. "Absol, use Swords Dance!"

Red snapped a finger and Snorlax was suddenly running towards Absol, paws glowing a bit with Brick Break. Absol was startled that Snorlax could move that quickly, and cried out when Brick Break hit him, being thrown into Serena's podium. Serena gave a soft squeaking noise, holding the railing to remain upright. Red rose a brow slightly, then looked at Snorlax, who nodded at the silent command, looking back at Absol as he got up. Even I knew what that nod was for; Red was telling Snorlax to be careful when flinging pokemon back and forth. Podiums weren't meant to take such strong hits from pokemon but it didn't seem to faze the crowds, who only cheered and cheered more.

"_How much more can Absol take? It looks as if Snorlax isn't even winded!"_

Well, he shouldn't be. He had to spar with me on occasion, and he was most definitely panting at the beginning, but with such a diverse team, we tried to strengthen our weakness and Red had instantly paired myself and Snorlax up on the mountain for that very reason: to make Snorlax become faster in battle. Snorlax avoided another Night Slash, slamming a fist into Absol's side with another Brick Break, sending him straight into the ground. Seeing that he was still up and able to take another hit, Snorlax's belly took on a silver, metallic gleam and he simply flung himself on top of the much smaller dark-type with Heavy Slam.

"Absol!" Serena cried out. Snorlax got up after a few seconds and watched as Absol tried to get up but grunted and fell. Once he returned to normal, we all knew that Absol had fainted and Serena was gritting her teeth with mild anger as she recalled her Absol.

"_Absol has fainted! Who would have thought a Snorlax would be this fast?!"_

In all honesty, it felt as if Serena was a painfully easy opponent. Snorlax was barely winded, but he'd caught his breath by the time Serena threw another pokéball out, a tall, green pokemon with long arms and legs, though it gave a strong, loud battle cry, looking ready for anything. "Chesnaught, I'm counting on you!" Serena said and Chesnaught gave a grin and a nod.

"_Serena has chosen Chesnaught, a grass and fighting type from Kalos!"_

Red seemed to be listening but he didn't switch Snorlax out in favor of Espeon just yet; instead, Snorlax shook his head at Red, who shrugged as Chesnaught ran up to Snorlax quickly, one arm beginning to glow as Serena shouted, "Chesnaught, use Hammer Arm!"

Snorlax didn't even need to see what Red's direction would be: he opened his mouth and a blast of cold air and ice went flying towards Chesnaught, who ran straight into Blizzard. Chesnaught cried out, stumbling back and covered his face as the Blizzard came to an end and finally glared at Snorlax, staying well away from him. Serena grunted a little as Snorlax caught his breath and began to run towards Chesnaught, startling her again with his speed. As his fist became engulfed with Fire Punch, she shouted, "Chesnaught, Spiky Shield!"

Quickly, Chesnaught seemed to disappear into his shell, the spikes on his back becoming sharper and longer just as Snorlax brought his fist down to hit him. He made a sound of pain, the flames disappearing as he pulled his injured paw back, shaking it a bit. Chesnaught quickly re-appeared and slammed a fist into Snorlax's belly with a Hammer Arm, causing Snorlax to cry out with pain. Satisfied he'd landed a hit, Serena smiled. "Follow it up with Focus Blast!"

Red snapped his fingers and Snorlax spread his arms out wide, using Protect as the blast crashed into it. When Protect faded, Snorlax was running at Chesnaught again, this time using Giga Impact. "Meet it with Giga Impact as well, Chesnaught!"

The two threw themselves at each other, both giving off bright glows as they slammed into each other, but surprisingly it was Snorlax that crashed into the ground. I could see Chesnaught glowing with Overgrow as Snorlax panted, trying to get back up and stumbled back as Chesnaught cried out, using Frenzy Plant. With no way to avoid it, Snorlax fainted, and a relieved look came to Serena's face as Red recalled him. Chesnaught was breathing heavily by now, glowing slightly as Overgrow came into effect, as the announcer said excitedly, _"Snorlax has fainted! Red still has four pokemon while Serena has three left!"_

Red tossed out Espeon's pokéball and I noticed Serena gulp. She knew Chesnaught wouldn't stand a chance against Espeon's power. I rolled my eyes, however, when Espeon gave a soft laugh and said, _"This'll be easy." _Here I thought Blue was the cocky one.

"_Another evolution of Eevee, the psychic-type, Espeon!"_

Chesnaught narrowed his eyes at Espeon, obviously having heard the psychic but after using Frenzy Plant, he was exhausted and Espeon didn't waste her chance as Red ordered a Psybeam. Chesnaught took the full brunt, crying out as he flew into the ground, bouncing once as Espeon remained where she was sitting. She licked her paw lazily as Chesnaught fainted and Serena recalled him, now looking nervous again as she seemed to think about which pokemon to send out next. None of us were listening to the announcer by now, and Red rose a brow as Serena shouted, "Let's go, Clefable!"

Espeon flicked her ears slightly as she saw the pink pokemon appear on the other side, gracefully landing on her feet. Finally Espeon stood up, getting battle-ready as she narrowed her eyes, looking far more vicious than the Clefable by far, who simply smiled at Espeon before getting into a defensive stance. "Clefable, use Moonblast!"

I tilted my head. Moonblast? I'd never heard of that before, and neither had Red, but once he saw the brightly glowing pinkish ball that formed just above Clefable's head, he signaled a Shadow Ball to counter the attack. As the two balls of energy were sent at each other, they met in the air and exploded with great power, causing Red and Serena to hold their hats onto their heads to avoid them flying away. Clefable yelped a bit, closing her eyes and covered them to block the wind and sand that would no doubt fly into her eyes. I made a complaining sound, clinging to Red's shoulder tightly to avoid falling off, but Red was already signaling Espeon to use Future Sight during the distraction.

Espeon's eyes glowed alongside the gem on her head and she shouted as she opened a portal above herself and sent the blast of energy into it before it disappeared. Serena had seen it and she panicked. "Clefable, use Meteor Mash!"

Clefable ran with impressive speed, her fists glowing silver as she ran at Espeon, who remained where she was before catching her with Psychic and slammed her into the ground. Clefable shouted, and once she hit the ground, the Future Sight opened up just as she got up again. Clefable got back up, shaky and hurting but I had to give her props: not many could withstand Espeon's brutal psychic attacks. Hell, I hardly could.

"Clefable, use Moonlight!"

Clefable hummed and she glowed slightly, and the restoration made her grin, back to normal as Espeon looked annoyed, sending another Future Sight into the sky at Red's direction.

"Now use Magical Leaf!"

As the rainbow-colored leaves flew quickly, Espeon closed her eyes and allowed to be hit before giving off her own hum, using Morning Sun to restore herself, the cuts from Magical Leaf almost immediately healing themselves. Noticing that they were nearly at the same power, Red took Espeon's pokéball, recalling her much to the announcer's shock. _"Red has returned Espeon! Who will he send out next?"_

Venusaur appeared on the field, roaring and made Clefable a bit nervous at the sight of the lumbering grass-type. Even I was annoyed that Clefable had managed to heal herself, and although she wasn't completely healed, it was enough to have another full battle with her. Venusaur would take care of that, studying her for a moment before sending out a purple spore from the petals on his back: Poison Powder. I watched as Clefable coughed, trying to wave the poison away and looked up when the Future Sight's portal opened up and she cried out again as it hit.

As she struggled to get up again, Venusaur used Sunny Day and the sky brightened ever so much as Clefable panted from the poison and pain while Serena looked worried. "Clefable! Use Moonlight, quickly!"

Now she was just stalling the inevitable and even Red was annoyed with this, snapping quickly for Venusaur to use Venoshock. As the purple liquid shot at Clefable, she cried out; I figured out quickly fairies didn't do so well against poison attacks. Clefable fainted just after that and when Serena returned her, I watched as Venusaur confidently faced her next pokemon, Altaria.

"_Serena has sent out her final pokemon, Altaria! But after what we saw with Charizard and Vaporeon, will Red continue to battle with Venusaur?"_

Why, yes, Mr. Announcer. Yes we were.

Venusaur watched with calm eyes as Altaria remained hovering in the sky, looking confident that he would be able to defeat a grass-type. This one was a little smaller than Lance's Altaria, though he also looked much younger than his too as he excitedly flapped once to stay in the air. "Altaria, use Sky Attack!" Serena cried, and Altaria obeyed immediately, flying straight for Venusaur.

However, it was a grave mistake. Venusaur roared suddenly, Solar Beam heading straight for Altaria and with Sunny Day active, he didn't need to take the time to charge it up at all. Startled, Altaria cried out and crashed into the ground, and although the attack didn't do much, it's what Red was aiming for: get the flying-type on the ground. Red clapped once and Venusaur reared and slammed to feet into the ground, using Frenzy Plant. The powerful attack was no match for Altaria—despite the type advantages. Altaria tried to get out of the way, flapping rapidly to get back up and screeched when the thick vines slammed into him.

We didn't even need to hear who won when Serena reluctantly recalled Altaria and Venusaur roar in victory. I was slightly disappointed that I hadn't been sent out to battle as well, but after clipping Venusaur's pokéball onto his belt, Red glanced at me. It had been a surprisingly easy battle, and both of us wondered how on earth this girl defeated a champion. I suppose it must have been the same thing for Brendan, wrong pokemon at the wrong time. The podium lowered to the ground, allowing us to climb off and Serena smiled a bit at Red, waving while he gave a nod before heading for the opposite door while we went into the one below the box everyone else was in.

"_Champion Red has defeated Champion Serena and has secured his undefeated title!"_ Ugh._ "He will move onto round two alongside Champions Dawn, Blue, Black and Steven! This concludes todays champion rounds! Tomorrow's battles are listed on the screen! First at nine we have White versus Rosa—"_

Red sighed as soon as the door closed and although we could still hear the noise, it was muffled greatly and he quickly used the machine nearby to heal Charizard, Snorlax, Venusaur and Espeon. After healing them, we headed out the hall and had barely opened the door before there was a loud squeak and Red jumped, stumbling as White crashed into him from the stairs. Black was laughing at the steps, holding his sides as Red caught her. "Sorry!" White cried out, her face turning pink as she quickly let go.

"You have got to stop tripping and making Red catch you," Black simply said, still laughing as the others also came down from the stairs.

"Well if _someone_ hadn't tripped me—"

"No one tripped you, your own damn foot slipped, clumsy!"

Red smiled a little at them and looked at his mother as she came to him and he gave a startled sound when she engulfed him in a tight hug. "Oh, I'm so proud of you, Red!" she said happily. I laughed as he pulled free of her after putting her back once and glanced over as Ethan started to walk.

"We'd better get going now before the crowds come out. If you don't want to be bombarded by people that is," he warned and the others quickly agreed. Time to go before we were trampled by thousands of people.

X-X-X

We had dropped Red's mother off at the hotel within a few minutes and shortly after that, we were all on our way to the beach again. We had all decided that we would go to the Giant Chasm when the sun was down, when there wouldn't be as many people on the road to follow us to the cave.

Although the tide had already come in, we were all on the cliff that overlooked it, and I couldn't help but notice that every time we went back, there were always more and more people coming with us. I smiled a little, noticing that this time Red didn't mind having the company, sitting on the ground, leaning against a rock facing the setting sun while I sat beside him, leaning against the same rock for support.

White sat closely beside Red, and beside her was Nate, who was laughing at a joke that Brendan had said. After them were Ethan, Rosa, Blue and back to Red again. I could sense nothing but happiness coming from the group, and smiling, I looked up at Red as he looked at White as she giggled as well before looking back at him. "So," she said and sat up a bit. "You now have to spill. How'd you meet Mew in the first place?"

"Yeah, I want to know that too," Ethan said, crossing his legs.

Red rubbed his head. "She had been caught by Team Rocket and freed herself. She told me she followed me since then," was all he said.

Blue didn't seem to be satisfied. "Mew doesn't just follow anyone around, what did you do to make her follow you around?" he asked, crossing his arms.

He shrugged. "Curiosity?"

I nodded to confirm it. Even I didn't know why she really followed us, she never gave us an exact reason.

"Well, you're lucky. I've only seen Lugia, Lyra's ridden on Ho-oh's back before," Ethan said, rubbing his head.

"I've never even seen a legendary," Blue whined.

"Kyurem and I are like, best buddies," Nate immediately said.

"We're the Heroes!" Rosa exclaimed with a smile while Black nodded, his own grin plastered onto his face.

"May helped me beat Groudon and Kyogre from destroying Hoenn and then I went into space with Rayquaza to beat Deoxys," Brendan added, grinning. I rolled my eyes at the teens. This seemed to turn more and more into a 'who's-seen-what-and-done-better' battle as they went on.

Red seemed to be greatly amused by the conversation, but as the sun was just touching the horizon, Nate stood up, Braviary's pokéball in his hand. "So I was thinking about it and I don't even know if Kyurem will let any of you see him, especially people he's never seen before. I honestly think it would be best if just me, but at most Rosa and Black. He's not like the other legendaries, he'll attack if you make a sudden move or sound."

White sighed, slightly disappointed. "I guess you're right. I've met him a few times, but he is scary," she said with a slight shudder.

Rosa smiled sympathetically at her. "He's not that scary when you get to know him." Her eyes suddenly lit up and she stood, grabbing the shiny pokéball. "We'll get there faster if we use Reshiram!"

"Zekrom's faster," Black challenged as he also took a pokéball.

Nate groaned at the two of them, rubbing his face. "If you're going to race again, at least don't try and shove each other off," he informed them.

Black turned to him. "Last time doesn't count; Rosa started it."

"Did not!" Rosa retorted.

I was confused. They were this familiar with legendary pokemon? Red also looked at Blue, who looked just as astonished.

"Fine, fine. Just hurry up, we'll be getting back late enough as it is," Nate muttered.

Rosa turned to Blue, smiling. "You get to see your first legendary!" she said happily and threw out the pokéball into the sky. Red was even startled at just how _huge_ Reshiram was compared to us all when he appeared. The dragon gave a loud roar once released, standing far above us as the rest of us stood up, brushing dirt off ourselves. Right beside Reshiram, Black threw another pokéball out, and another giant pokemon appeared, completely black and gave his own distinct roar but Zekrom watched us afterwards with curiosity with his own red eyes.

"Holy Arceus!" Blue exclaimed, startled and Reshiram's lightning blue eyes turned to him, a wondering look in them but turned them to Rosa as she smiled.

"Reshiram, Zekrom, these are our new friends, Brendan, Red, Ethan and Blue! They're all competing in the tournament as well," Rosa said, motioning towards the boys as she said their names.

"_A pleasure,"_ Zekrom said, a gruff yet gentle voice.

"_Indeed. It is not often we get to meet new humans,"_ Reshiram replied, wielding his own raspy, strong tone.

"Yea, you too," Ethan smiled, smiling. Blue just seemed too shocked to say anything, but managed a slight smile as Brendan waved and Red nodded. That made me wonder how on earth were these two communicating to the humans directly like that, but when Zekrom turned towards Red and I, I didn't wonder anymore as Red blinked.

Zekrom seemed to be smiling, an approving look in his eyes. _"You are very powerful, you make the electric pokemon proud, young Pikachu."_

I didn't say anything in return, only nodding and gave a respectful bow of my head as Zekrom looked back at Black as he patted his leg.

"So, we need to get to the Giant Chasm and—" Black started but was promptly interrupted by Rosa.

"Black says Zekrom and he are faster than us," Rosa said to Reshiram and grinned. "We won't let them get away with that, will we?"

"_Of course not,"_ Reshiram said and helped Rosa onto his back then quickly took off.

"_Another challenge?"_ Zekrom replied. After Nate and Black climbed onto his back, he jumped into the darkening sky as well.

"We'll be back before midnight, I promise!" Nate shouted to us when they were in the sky. Soon two streaks of blue and orange light appeared, flying far and fast within seconds.

The others were left there gaping a bit and White laughed at their expressions. "They always race, it's no big deal."

Blue looked at her, shocked. "No big deal? They are _racing_ with _legendary_ pokemon!" he exclaimed. "What kind of people do that?!"

"Yeah, but that's totally freaking awesome!" Ethan cried, grinning as Blue groaned at him. "They're the biggest pokemon I've _ever_ seen too!"

"Kyurem is bigger than that," White said and smiled as Brendan smiled alongside Ethan.

Blue sighed at them but soon it turned into a yawn that was contagious to the others soon enough, including myself. "Midnight, huh? I think I want to go back to the hotel, I'm tired."

"Red, can we look for new pokemon tomorrow?" Brendan said with a yawn of his own. "I don't think I'll make it tonight."

Red nodded and looked at Blue as he released Pidgeot. "Here, Pidgeot and I are going back, you can come with us if you want," Blue said. "Pidgeot can carry Ethan too. He had lots of fun with Braviary." Pidgeot trilled happily as Ethan objected instantly. He grinned once the two of them were on her back. "Besides, Red and White need lovebird alone time."

Red and White's faces both turned a bright tomato. "Stop calling us lovebirds!" she exclaimed loudly as Pidgeot took off, diving down to grab Ethan's arm for the short distance ride to the hotel.

Blue, Brendan and Ethan were all laughing as they flew off into the sky, disappearing soon enough. Once we were alone, I jumped off of Red's shoulder as he sat down again, staring at the ocean as the sun set even further and showed off the stars beginning to come out as the sky gradually grew darker. White sat down beside him as well and brought her knees close to herself, twiddling with her fingers in her lap. They were silent for a time, absorbing the amazing view as the stars began to come into the sky.

Finally White spoke up, "Congrats for winning your battle today, by the way," she said and he smiled a little in thanks. She looked up at him, smiling. "I'm glad you won. Maybe we'll battle in the tournament." She hesitated a little. "That… that won't change anything, right?"

Red blinked and shook his head.

"Good, I'm glad." She suddenly leaned into his side, causing his face to turn red. I rolled my eyes at him, sitting on a rock that had been used as Rosa's chair and while White stared off into the distance, Red glanced at me as I moved my arm a bit, trying to tell him to hold her. I had to do it at least twice before he understood what I was trying to tell him.

He seemed hesitant at first, but finally wrapped his left arm around her waist, pulling her closer. Her face erupted into a bright blush as well, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she smiled, and finally giggled after a bit. "I never really realized how warm humans really are," White said. "Well I—I mean, pokemon are warm too but… not quite like this."

Red smiled a little bit, beginning to recognize what she meant. "Mm," he responded.

"I've never had someone hold me like this before."

"If it's any consolation, I've never held anyone before," he replied quietly and she erupted into a fit of giggles.

"You're doing a good job of it." She moved a bit, making him look at her. "I like it. Don't you?" When he nodded, her face brightened and she looked at the calm waves of the ocean again. "Today was hectic. We should go to dinner and plan out a date for tomorrow. We can go all around town and do the touristy stuff, I know exactly what we should do, too."

Red smiled again. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Just sit back and enjoy the Unovian air, you're the foreigner here after all."

He gave a soft laugh, looking at the ocean again. "If you don't let me help, I will call you Hilda."

She scowled playfully but she smiled. "I… actually don't mind if you call me that." Red rose a brow at her as she turned her head again at him. "I mean, I don't like my name but if you want to call me that, it's fine. It just sounds… right when you do."

Red smiled a bit, nodding as he looked at her. "All right then. From now on, I will call you Hilda. White doesn't fit you, anyway."

She laughed. "You'd be the first person to tell me that."

I was suddenly eager, watching them just stare at each other for a few seconds and got a bit closer—this was a perfect moment, after all, and with me out of the way, there was no stopping Red from getting his first kiss. At least I think it was his first, unless he'd kissed another girl before I met him. Highly doubted that though. To me, time slowed down as the two humans slowly grew closer, most likely unaware of what they were doing, but with the perfect setting, nothing could mess this up.

I blinked when their heads suddenly collided with each other and they both winced, rubbing their foreheads. Whatever just happened, they probably weren't going to go for that kiss anymore and immediately annoyance ran through my veins. Now I'd still have to work at getting Red that date and now a kiss?

"Ow!" White exclaimed and spun her head behind them, as did Red when someone started to suddenly giggle maniacally.

I don't even know how I didn't see them before, but the annoyance briefly left me when I saw the very familiar pink cat, a pokéball around her neck as a necklace holding her sides as she floated in the air behind White and Red while her clone was completely apathetic with a bored look on his face.

Mew and Mewtwo had come to join the party.

Moment totally ruined.

X-X-X

* * *

**A/N:** Dammit, Mew D:

btw, I play a ton of video games, so if you'd like to add me on PSN, go ahead! I play mostly RPGs, though. Don't expect me to accept an invitation to call of duty lol. Username is the same - nimondor.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Enjoy!

**QUEENSPELLER67: **I know but for the sake of storytelling, they have genders lol

**Jansen-Ception: **Joke's on you, I don't answer my phone for anyone (not even my parents, but their number shows up as 'Private' and I never answer private calls lol) and I'm a 'she' :P

* * *

_12_

_Pikachu_

The crescent moon was high in the cloudless sky, a bright light among the millions of stars and reflected off of the ocean waves with a serene sense of purity. There wasn't another human or pokemon in sight or hearing range and there was a slight breeze to keep us all cool from the summer night. It was the perfect setting for any romantic scene in a movie, book or even reality.

_Was_ being the ultimate key word. It was going to be my trainer's very first kiss, aside from his mother of course. Red and White had nearly accomplished the feat and I was eager to be their first witness and brag about it to Espeon later. Mew's unfortunate timing was impeccable. As soon as their heads crashed into each other, I knew that delightful, silly and heart-felt moment was gone, leaving Red and White to nurse their poor foreheads when they turned to see who was laughing.

Unlike Mew, Mewtwo was silent, hearing his clone's delighted laughter increase when White screamed in shock at the sight of the two and Red jumped a little, but otherwise silent as well. I got off the rock and darted to Red, jumping onto the rock the humans had been leaning against and barely noticed Red get up and help White to her feet as well. It wasn't the fact that they had come out of nowhere that startled us, it was the fact that Mew had used her psychic power to smash Red and White's foreheads together to ruin their first kiss. That was _so_ like her, too.

In reality, it was a little funny to see their startled reactions and I'm sure they would laugh about it in the future as well. _"How in Arceus' name did you two find us?"_ I exclaimed to the two newcomers.

Mew finally composed herself and wiped her eyes, taking a deep breath to catch it. _"I followed our link with Red! I sensed he was going to ask us for help so I decided to come early and Mewtwo followed me!"_ She then flew straight into Red's face head-first, crashing into him on purpose and caused him to yelp loudly and stumble back a few steps as she held onto him in a tight hug with her two front paws and kept her long tail wrapped around his neck, as if to ensure she stayed there. It was obvious she was using telepathy to communicate with the humans as she suddenly shouted, _"I missed you, Red!"_

"Gah!" was all Red said, startled and at once tried to free his head. She clung to him like a wad of gum on the bottom of a shoe though; he could peel her off as many times as she wanted but she'd come right back in for another suffocating hug.

"_You never write, you never call, you never even bother to come see me! I'm saddened by your lack of communication, silly human!"_ Arceus, Mew had way too much energy tonight. How on earth were we supposed to write or call her, anyway?

"Wait, so you're Mew and you're Mewtwo?" White blurted, clearly still in shock as she looked between the two psychics.

Mewtwo turned his dark eyes at her as Mew continued to cling to Red despite his desperate struggles to get her off his face. _"Yes. Red aided us in Kanto, it is time we return the favor,"_ he told her simply, his own telepathy entering all three of our minds.

I looked at Mewtwo. _"You flew all the way from Kanto to here?"_ I asked.

"_No, we skipped across the ocean and then played hide and go seek with a Sharpedo,"_ Mew interrupted, grinning. _"Then we stopped in Slateport City for an all-you-can-eat buffet lunch and then helped deliver a baby."_

Mewtwo, the one with a mature brain in his head, shook it once and ignored Mew. _"Of course not. We teleported here to Red and Mew saw them about to kiss. Clearly, she decided to—in her own words—ruin the moment."_ Yeah, my thoughts too. I could sense the disappointment radiating from White as she to make heads and tails of what was going on while Red finally tore Mew off of his face.

"_But it was funny, huh?"_ Mew said, now sitting on her side of Red's shoulders.

"No, not really," White mumbled under her breath, blushing again.

Red looked between the two legendaries, confused. "What are you two doing here?" he asked.

Mew smiled at us and flicked her tail. _"I heard your thoughts all the way in Kanto. We were helping some Nidoran get out of a cave-in and then I decided to pry a little bit to see what you were doing. I knew you were going to Unova for a tournament, but then I felt anger."_ She got off of him as Red hesitated, his face turning into a frown as White went to his side and I joined them at their feet. She floated beside Mewtwo, who remained calm.

"_We sensed your rage. You were scared—but not for yourself,"_ Mewtwo added. _"When we first met in that cave, I felt the same thing. You were not worried about yourself, you were worried about someone else."_ His eyes flickered towards me and I gave a knowing nod but his eyes narrowed slightly as he turned them back to Red._ "But then your thoughts and your feelings went blank and Mew panicked and almost caused another cave-in."_

"_Did not!"_ Mew exclaimed and her clone ignored her. I could've sworn I saw her cheeks flush a bit with embarrassment. _"Those rocks were falling because they didn't like you!"_

"Team Plasma attacked his mother and then knocked him out for a few minutes," White said to them, and Mewtwo nodded in comprehension. "They want to take over Unova, this would be their third attempt but for some reason, it just feels strange."

Mew tilted her head slightly. _"Strange? How?"_ she asked curiously, staying where she was. I thought it was interesting that they didn't ask who Team Plasma was. I suppose they already knew; if they could get into Red's mind easily without him knowing or even feeling anything, they could know a whole hell of a lot more.

"_The Shadow Triad visit Giovanni almost on a daily—well, nightly basis, ever since we got here,"_ I replied, crossing my paws. White looked at me, startled. I guess one of them were translating for me for them while Red remained stoic, nodding once. Mewtwo's expression grew considerably darker upon hearing the human's name, no doubt still unforgiving of his creators. _"They're trying to make him form Team Rocket again, but he's insistent that he won't do it. They keep giving him information, too. Yesterday they told him to stay away from the stadium. We thought someone or something would get attacked but… nothing happened today. They want something from Team Rocket and we don't know what or how to figure out why."_

Mew and Mewtwo looked at each other, then turned back to White, Red and I. "Do you two know something?" White dared to ask as Red watched expectantly.

Mewtwo nodded slowly. _"Yes," _he said.

We were met with silence from the two, the only sounds coming from the area were the ocean waves and the few cries from the forest but that wasn't why I suddenly had a horrible pit in my stomach form. Red had also paled slightly, likely with the same feeling in his gut.

As Mew's face grew serious, that feeling returned, the one that reminded me that she was a legendary pokemon and could probably kill me without even thinking twice about it. Kind of a scary feeling, really. I could only think, _'Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it, don't—'_

"_Team Rocket announced their return to Kanto."_

She said it.

X-X-X

Red was pacing so much that it even annoyed White enough to pull him onto the couch in her room. Mew was in his lap the moment he'd sat down while I took up residence to his right on top of the arm rest of the couch. Mewtwo was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, though even I knew he was not sleeping. White had called Blue, Ethan and Brendan to ask them to meet her in her room in a few minutes and despite their confusion and sleepiness, they agreed.

"Black, Rosa and Nate should be back at midnight, which is three hours from now," White said as she clicked her Xtranseiver to hang up from the last call she'd made, which was to Ethan. Like Brendan and Blue had been, he was surprised she'd called him, but he sounded wide awake compared to the other two boys. "Even with Zekrom and Reshiram it takes a few hours to get there."

Red only nodded once, scratching Mew's fur on the top of her head, to her delightful, cat-like purring. Mewtwo teleported us to the hotel the moment Mew had told us about what happened, where Red decided it best to try and make a new pit in the floor from his pacing. The news that Team Rocket had returned in Kanto boggled our minds, and it seemed as if Red couldn't think straight, often switching his nervous habits from one to the other, and I was surprised he had so many but White was there, and that seemed to slowly calm him down. Not by much, though.

White was silent for a little bit but put her hand on his own comfortingly and asked, "Are you okay? You've been acting strange ever since we came back."

He frowned slightly and shook his head once. "No, but I'll be fine." I looked at him with worry but decided to keep silent, watching as White sighed.

She didn't seem to be convinced at all and I knew she would ask again later, knowing she wouldn't get a straight answer tonight. Knowing him, he would probably avoid it if he could for as long as he could. "If you ever want to talk, I am here." She put on a smile, making Red blink. "So since you're here and we don't have to worry about Black or the others right now, we can start planning a date. A real one this time."

He flashed her a confused look and I was just as confused. Espeon was right, I guess, girls liked to plan for these things. She took one of the pads of paper from the coffee table and pen, setting it on her thigh as Mew suddenly looked excited, looking up at the humans but didn't get up from her spot. _"I want to help! I've been all over the world, you know so I know all the best places to go for—"_

White shook her head instantly. "Nope. No, no, it's okay, Mew. We got this. I don't want anyone playing any tricks or jokes on anyone else, got it?" She narrowed her eyes at the pink cat.

Mew gave a fake pout but snickered, not even trying to hide it.

White turned her eyes up to meet Red's. "Now, do you like museums? There's a few that I like here, not as awesome as the one Leonora runs but that is a little too far for a day trip. Or what about a movie? There's actually one that Diantha starred in recently, I think it's a comedy. Oh, and there's the mine that's nearby, they give tours sometimes. I don't know if they will be doing one tomorrow, with the tournament and all."

As she listed more and more things to do around town and they planned out a day after her battle would end in the morning, I noticed Red slowly starting to relax even more. The weight of Team Rocket briefly lifted from his shoulders enough for him to smile as White blabbed on, becoming tongue-tied more than once.

A sudden knock at the door made them both jump, quickly followed by Mew's laughter though she and Mewtwo made no move to make themselves invisible as White got up to answer the door. She set the pad down onto the dresser, opening the door soon after. Blue was the first to enter, but the second he caught sight of Mew and her clone, he was frozen in his spot. Red looked at him as he rubbed his head. "I don't even know if I should be mad at you or not for hiding them from me," he said.

Mew tilted her head. Then something seemed to click in her mind as she floated up off of Red. _"I know you! You're Red's friend, right? I've heard Red's thoughts about you, you seem to be nice,"_ she said and Blue blinked. _"But he also thinks that you can be a spoiled brat a lot too. Oh! And super clingy."_ Red rolled his eyes at her.

Blue looked unsure, rubbing the back of his head. "Er… thanks? I guess?"

"_You're welcome!"_

She floated back to Red, deciding to rest on the top of his head this time as Blue looked at White with a confused look, though she only shrugged. "Mew's very attached to him, she hasn't let him go for more than five seconds," she explained but she started to laugh a little, trying to hide it. "You should have seen her when I first met her—she tackled his face and almost suffocated him."

Red narrowed his eyes at them as Blue laughed heartily, holding his side with an arm. "Aren't you supposed to be the girlfriend?" Blue asked and White's face turned pink.

"Shut up, Blue!"

I smiled and looked at Red, who was trying to hide his own blush from Blue. Unfortunately for him, Mew had also noticed. _"Aww! You're blushing, Red! Do you blush all the time now? You've grown up so much since I last saw you, too! You're what? Fourteen now?"_

Red scowled up at her, ignoring the giggles he received from the psychic. "Fifteen."

"_Same thing, you're still a kid."_ She put an arm on her forehead dramatically. _"Young love; thine blade runs deep! O, how I detest thee!"_

He rolled his eyes at her again but soon the frown returned to his face and Blue took notice immediately, going to sit down on the couch beside him, taking White's former spot. "What's the matter?" he asked. I saw White watching, looking concerned.

"_It's kind of a big thing and we'll tell all of you once the other two are here,"_ Mew said then poked Blue's hair, causing the boy the instinctively pull his head back, a bit curious and confused. _"Why do you have so much hair and why is it so spiky?"_

"Not you too." He groaned and White laughed.

"_Red, you should spike your hair too. I think you'd look cute."_

"No," came Red's instant response.

"_Aww, why not?"_ She took his hat off with Psychic and ignored his annoyed look as she poked his hair. _"Aw, come on, I wanna see what it would look like!"_

"No," he repeated and grabbed his hat back to shove it back on his head.

That simple reaction got her to laugh again, delighted with annoying us all. White opened the door again after another knock, revealing Ethan and Brendan, the latter yawning. "Sorry, but this is really important and I think you can help us too, Brendan," White said apologetically and closed the door as the boys came in, both stopping the instant they spotted the psychics as well.

"Whoa!" Brendan said eagerly, his eyes widening. That look came into his eyes again, the one where he turned into a little kid again. "Mew's so small! Mewtwo looks so cool!" At the sound of his name, Mewtwo finally opened his eyes again, watching the newcomers with mild interest.

Ethan smiled and I rolled my own eyes as he introduced himself, "So I'm Ethan, Johto trainer extraordinaire—"

"You're extra something, all right," Blue mumbled and Ethan huffed at him while I laughed alongside Mew.

"_Humans are funny!" _she exclaimed, startling Brendan enough for him to jump, which only increased her cackling.

"Ignore her, she's a bit of a trickster," White said and sat on the bed as Brendan and Ethan pulled up chairs. The curious one that she was, Mew floated up to them, trying to give them both styling tips and even tried pulling Brendan's hat off, to which he refused and held it down in place as she tried to use Psychic to pick it up just like she had done to Red's hat. She floated back to Red and I as Blue leaned back in the couch's cushions, getting comfortable.

"So why did you call us for a meeting here?" he asked, frowning as Mew's laughter instantly died down and Mewtwo got off the wall. He stopped in front of us, regarding us carefully with his large, obscure eyes.

"_This morning, just after the first battle of the champion's tournament, Team Rocket broadcasted a region-wide message in Kanto and Johto that they have returned,"_ he said and most notably, Ethan and Blue both froze, but Brendan looked confused. Mewtwo noticed their reactions, seeming almost relieved that Ethan and Blue shared a bewildered look, not expecting _that_ at all. Red and I hadn't expected it either.

"Team Rocket? Who are they?" he asked, looking between the others. His question, however, was momentarily ignored.

"What do you mean they've returned? They're back? How?" Ethan blurted, all trace of humor gone. It was rare to wipe that all too-happy smile from his face, and I suppose we would need more drastic turns of events to take it off again. "We got rid of them! _Twice!"_

"_There's a saying for that,"_ Mew interrupted and Ethan glanced at her. _"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"_

"_I don't think now is an appropriate time for that,"_ I mumbled.

She scoffed at me. _"Don't be a petite propitious poopy-pants, Pikachu—ooh! Try saying _that_ five times fast!"_ She laughed as I groaned._ "Look on the bright side, at least you aren't dead."_

I only rolled my eyes at her as she giggled. _"Joy."_

"_And on top of that, you aren't rotting either."_

Arceus, after spending less than five minutes with her, I _wish_ I was dead as she muttered under her breath extremely quickly, _"Petite propitious poopy-pants, Pikachu. Petite, proptitious poopy-pants, Pikachu…"_

"Who in Hoenn's name is Team Rocket?" Brendan asked, looking frustrated that no one had answered him before. "Are they your run-of-the-mill 'take over the world' kind of people? 'Cause Team Magma and Team Aqua were both like that."

Blue nodded. "Pretty much," he mumbled.

"It's their third time, just like Team Plasma," Ethan piped up.

"And they want to team up with the Rockets," White added, crossing her arms across her chest.

Brendan rubbed his head, leaning back in his chair but smiled anyway, nervously I might add. "My mom even told me to stay out of dangerous situations. Oh well, can't help it," he said and shrugged. "Count me in, even though I don't know who Team Rocket is, it sounds like they're loads of trouble."

I nodded at Brendan and Blue sighed, rubbing his head. "Do you two happen to have any more information than that?" he asked hopefully.

Mew tapped her chin with a paw. _"Well… not really. They announced it but we went to every one of the places the Rockets have been—Kanto and Johto. It was all completely empty: the radio tower, Silph Co., even your gym, except for the gym trainers, of course. It's like they announced it but nothing's happened."_

"That leaves one other place they could possibly be." Blue sat up, looking at Ethan, who frowned in realization.

"They're here in Unova, aren't they?" he guessed and turned two golden eyes towards the two psychics. He looked more annoyed than anything now, but he sighed after Mewtwo gave a nod of his own. "Why now? Why do they have to be so…so _annoying_?" Annoying was putting it lightly.

"_I dunno. Why do you have to be so whiny?"_ Mew challenged, grinning as he rolled his eyes. She had a point.

I noticed Brendan sit up, hands on his knees. "So what are we going to do about them? Blue, Red and I can go scope out the area tomorrow. You and Ethan have tournament battles tomorrow and those people could literally be anywhere," he said. He briefly looked at the door as it suddenly opened to reveal Black, followed by Rosa and Nate. All three looked startled to see Mew and Mewtwo, much like Blue, Ethan and Brendan were.

"Hey," Nate said softly, staring at the two psychics. I quickly noted the dark circles of exhaustion under his eyes and he wasn't the only one.

"_His hair just as spikier, if not more, than yours, Blue!"_ Mew suddenly shouted, causing all three to jump.

"Huh? It is?"

Black was quick to get over shock than the other pair of siblings, sitting down in a chair at the table. "So… we kinda found something," he told us and we all looked at the trio expectantly as Rosa also sat down.

"Did it have something to do with our favorite two teams in the whole wide world?" White asked, sarcasm pouring out of her mouth. Red flashed a small smile, but it quickly faded as the other three looked startled for a moment.

Rosa nodded, looking tired as she replied, "Yes, actually. The place was swarming with Team Plasma grunts and some other people, probably Team Rocket with the whole giant 'R' on their chests." I nodded. At least they didn't bother to hide themselves.

"Oh and you know what the best part about it was?" Nate asked, doing his best to hide his anger. White looked at Red, worried but then at Nate again. "They somehow managed to get control of Colress' old machine and he was under their control. Brilliant, right?" I guess it was, but he didn't stop speaking. "So, while Rosa and Black were trying to fight Kyurem with Reshiram and Zekrom, I was sneaking around and guess who I got a lovely peek of?"

"Let me take a _wild _guess: Ghetsis?" White asked, crossing her arms.

"Yup," he replied, exaggerating the 'p' and frowned. "He was with another guy in a trench coat—"

"Giovanni," Red interrupted, giving a deep frown. I was just as upset, and I looked up at Red as he glanced at me as well.

We returned our attention to Nate as he shrugged. "I've never seen him, his face was hidden. Could've been him. Anyway, they looked like they had been talking but they got away when the Shadow Triad attacked. I was saved by Rosa, and when we went back, it was like the two teams had never been there. They were all gone."

"When Kyurem came to, he actually apologized to us, too," Black said and smiled. "First time he's ever said 'sorry' to me."

"Second for me," Rosa mumbled with a shiver.

"Anyway, he told us that they wanted to try and freeze the tournament over and would probably come back again. So, after hearing your story with Mew and Mewtwo, I kinda copied you, Red…" Nate reached into his pocket and pulled out a brand-spankin' new pokéball and held it towards us to show it. He smiled as we stared at it. "He's with us now for his safety. Ours too, of course."

Blue rubbed his head. "So, what now? We just wait?"

White shook her head. "After our battle—" she nodded towards Rosa "—we're going to help you guys weed out grunts that could be hiding here in the city." Then she looked at us. "Giovanni is staying in this hotel. I think—"

"_Well, I think you should stop talking about the boring stuff and go see him and we can all get some real answers,"_ interrupted a bored Mew and Red and I blinked at her.

"What are you doing?" Red asked with a confused look.

"_Let us be off!"_

I sat on Red's shoulder by now, trying to ask what she meant though she only smiled and tapped our foreheads and I only barely hearing the others yelp when we were Teleported by her. Red gave a slight yelp as he hit the floor on his bottom when we re-appeared in a room and an alarmed and angry roar greeted us.

We recognized that roar, but Mew looked a bit bored as she blocked the Rhydon's attack, whatever it might have been and she looked towards the startled human at the table. Giovanni frowned deeply and stood up, setting a glass onto the table as he rose, hair slicked back and wearing that same suit as always. My cheeks sparked and I looked at Mew. _"Mew! What the hell?! What gives?!"_ I couldn't help but to snap.

Mew ignored me as Red stood up quickly as Giovanni narrowed his eyes at us. "I suppose you three heard about that broadcast?" he asked simply.

"_Yep, the very same. Why are you doing this?"_ Mew demanded, though he frowned in a bit of confusion. _"And don't give us the 'I didn't do it speech,' that's a little lame."_

"And what if I say that is the truth?"

Mew huffed indifferently. _"Then we won't believe you!"_

He snorted and seemed to brush us off with a look towards Rhydon, waving a hand to tell it to come to his side. "Believe what you want. I had nothing to do with it."

Red glared. "Then who else would?" he asked.

"Oh, so now you are speaking to me again, hmm? Well, something new can happen every day, I suppose," he mused to himself, which only annoyed me as I spat again, letting a useless Thunderbolt fire towards him, though with Rhydon's Lightning Rod ability, it was only sucked up into his horn. Rhydon looked annoyed but Giovanni ignored it. "Despite the fact that I know who are up to Team Rocket's revival, why should I tell you?"

Red glared as Mew grew irritated, sitting on Red's shoulder instead. _"Simple."_ She looked at Giovanni as he rose a brow. _"I can grind your brain into tiny bits of chunks and flesh and make it into soup, and you'd be helpless to do anything 'cause you don't have any protection, or—if you prefer—I can break every single one of your bones with just a flick of my tail."_ Red and I both looked at her in disbelief. She was smiling still, ever so calmly and Red looked at me as she giggled. We had no idea that Mew could be like this, either. She floated into the air again, hovering before Red and I. _"So, you tell us what we want to know and you get to keep your brain! Deal?"_

Giovanni started to laugh, though there was no trace of humor in it and a cold chill went deep into my spine, causing me to involuntarily shiver as well as Mew, though Red remained stoic as usual, his eyes glaring deep into the man. When he finally stopped, he lost his smile. "I haven't had a laugh like that in years. You are far too kind of a pokemon to harm anything—"

"_True, I am too nice and can't really hold up to any threats that _I_ make."_ She smiled again, causing him to be confused, including Red and I especially when she pointed._ "But he isn't."_

I looked up behind Giovanni and he turned around sharply as Mewtwo appeared, using Psychic to pin the man to the table, knocking the glass of water and whatever meal he'd been having onto the floor. Giovanni gave a yell of surprise, wincing as his arms were forced apart to his sides and the psychic glared. "The c-creation!" he said, as if he found it difficult to breathe. "W-we destroyed you!"

Mew giggled, as if she found this whole thing funny. _"Obviously, you didn't do a good enough job."_

"_You have no idea how long I have suffered because of your kind, human,"_ Mewtwo said. His voice held nothing but rage, not caring if Giovanni was trying to breathe. However, I didn't even feel sorry for the man and Mew remained where she was, feeling the same. Rhydon roared in fury, trying to hit Mewtwo, but Mew kept him at bay, easily tossing him to the side with a Psychic. _"However, it is not Red's wish for you to die. As much as you deserve it, you will tell us who the ones responsible for this are."_

Red was frowning silently, and I hadn't a clue what was going through his mind. I snapped my head back to the pinned Giovanni, who made a pained sound as he tried sitting up.

"_Remember: we get to squish your teensy-weensy brain if you don't say anything!"_ Mew chimed in a sing-song voice. Her sanity was indeed questionable.

The man coughed as the grasp on whatever Mewtwo was holding tightened. "A-Archer!" he finally said, coughing.

"_Archer declared he would not bring Team Rocket back,"_ Mewtwo said, glaring. _"Do not lie to me, human!"_

Giovanni managed a short laugh but it turned into a cough as the three fingers on Mewtwo's left arm constricted slowly together. "Humans lie. You should know this better than anyone, Mewtwo."

Mewtwo hesitated before he reluctantly lowered his arm slowly as he stared at the pinned man.

The grip on Giovanni's neck seemed to loosen and he finally coughed haggardly and gave great gasps for air. "Archer lied to Ethan. Why would any sane man of his caliper give up reviving Team Rocket? They still have their feet dug into every little corner of Kanto."

"_Then that would mean you, too."_

Giovanni frowned. "I tried already and realized it failed. So I gave up and decided to take a different path."

For once, I didn't think the man was lying and Red remained silent, looking at Mew as she hesitated, going back to sit on Red's shoulder.

Giovanni continued. "Arianna and Petrel have already joined him again. Proton, I am not certain. But I wouldn't be surprised if he did return—he is what you would call a masochist and enjoys the misery it causes others." Red gave a slight hesitation. Someone like that wouldn't be a pleasurable person to face at all. "Now release me, I have given what you wanted."

Mewtwo hesitated for a _very_ long time before he finally dropped his other arm and Giovanni was free, wincing as he sat up but brushed off his coat. Mewtwo teleported, unable to bear the sight of Giovanni, I assume. _"Now we don't have to squish your brain. See? Was that so hard?"_ she asked, smiling again.

Giovanni glared at her but turned his eyes towards Red. "The Shadow Triad have told me what happened earlier today. They have their eyes on you, boy. If you want to stop them, I would suggest going to the mines—I heard that there is a lot of strange activity going around there. A lot of people wearing a strange uniform with the letter 'R' on the front." Red stiffened and Giovanni picked up the glass that had fallen onto the floor earlier.

"I should trust you why?" he finally asked and I kept a very close watch on Giovanni as he stood again to set the cup onto the counter beside the sink.

"I have told you already, believe what you want. I am but a mere stepping stone in your crusade. Go to the mines; from there, I am sure you'll receive more answers." He turned around to face us. "They will go after your close friends and family again. Your mother was the first, but she will not be the last. Team Plasma is watching you, don't think for a second that Team Rocket isn't either."

Red stiffened but before he could give a retort, Mew had teleported us out of the room and into a more familiar territory—our own room. We already knew that the Bisharp were watching Blue, but with the knowledge and the awareness that it wasn't just us they were targeting, it hit our trainer hard. Red looked around our room and gave a heavy sigh, rubbing his face and sat on the bed without bothering to turn the lights on.

I barely noticed Mewtwo in the room as well, standing on the other side of the bed, and I'm sure Red knew he was there, but he made no move to greet him as he buried his face back into his face from his abrupt stress. I sensed nothing but nervousness and worry coming from him and I jumped onto the bed. I gave a soft, "Pika," to try and calm him, but it did little to help ease his fears.

I looked up as Mew flicked the lights on with Psychic then floated over to us, hovering above, an almost guilty look on her face. _"I'm sorry, Red. But what Giovanni said was the truth. You are being watched. There are strange pokemon always following you and your friends around and I cannot sense them with psychic abilities."_ She then tried to smile. _"But you have me here now, right? And I won't leave again! If those pokemon try anything, they're going down and so are Team Rocket and Plasma! Their tiny brains will by mush by the time I'm through with them!"_

She lost her smile when she realized her attempt at humor was lost on our human, who was troubled and his face a mixture of worry and fear. We understood why; his mother had already been attacked, who's to say that White, or Blue or the others were next? He was afraid to lose any of them, and I completely understood, if the Shadow Triad had wanted, they could have just outright killed his mother without so much as a 'hey, how do you do?'

Whereas Mewtwo didn't bother to try and comfort the human, I looked up as Mew floated to Red and gave him a hug around his neck—not a tackle-in-the-face or a suffocating death grip, but a real, Arceus-forsaken hug that startled the human.

"_It'll be okay, Red. I promise."_

I smiled up at him, jumping up to his shoulder to hug his head as well. Finally he nodded, hugging us both back. When he finally let go, he smiled a little bit and pulled out a pokéball. Mew instantly brightened up, recognizing that it was Espeon's pokeball and the moment she was released, Espeon gave a delighted sound and both tackled into each other in joy, the psychic duo having reunited after years.

Red released the others shortly, gladly taking off his shoes as they greeted Mew as well, who was just as happy to see them as well. There was a sudden, rapid knock on the door and Red answered it, knowing it was White as he opened the door. The girl entered quickly and quickly threw her arms around him, causing a quick blush to appear on his face but he smiled as he returned the hug. "I was so worried! Mew! Don't kidnap him again!" she instantly scolded.

"_I wouldn't kidnap him!"_ Mew retorted. _"Well… maybe. I probably will again." _She stuck her tongue out at her as Espeon giggled.

Red rolled his eyes at the girls then looked at White. "I'm sorry I scared you, Hilda, it will _not_ happen again." He gave Mew a hard look.

"_It will if it's to save your life. What if you get squished or your brain turns to mush? Well, I can't repair that."_

"Huh?" White asked, finally letting Red go.

Blastoise tilted his head though Espeon was first, tackling into the humans, over excited that not only Mew had returned but also the hug that the humans had given each other. They both yelped and hit the floor just as fast. _"You two are hugging! In front of us!"_ she cried suddenly, smiling just as brightly as the gem on her forehead. _"Did you two kiss? How was it? You didn't use tongues, did you? Are you even old enough to have s—"_

"Nope, we're done, Espeon!" White said, her whole aura screaming embarrassment. "Enough, enough!"

Mew suddenly started to laugh one more time as the humans blushed brightly, though Red pushed Espeon off of them.

"_No. Mew bashed their heads together before they could do anything,"_ I replied and Espeon looked at Mew, looking disappointed.

"_What? Don't give me that look! It was the perfect time and then—BAM! Foreheads crashed together!"_ Mew said with a smile and wiped her eye. _"It was a sight to behold."_

"_But think of OGAD!"_

Mew tilted her head curiously. _"OGAD?"_

"_Oh, Arceus," _Venusaur mumbled with exasperation.

White looked at Red as he sighed at us pokemon, though Mew was only laughing as usual. Mewtwo sighed at her, going to awkwardly sit onto the couch, closing his eyes to rest. White then sighed, interrupting a brief moment of happiness. "So I guess we can't go on a date tomorrow. There's too much going on," she said.

"No, but we got useful information from Giovanni tonight," he said and she blinked.

"So that's where Mew took you?" Red nodded. "What'd he say?"

As Red explained to her what happened, I looked at Charizard as he listened intently. Snorlax seemed to be deep in thought as he ate a few berries (where he got them from, I have no idea. I don't even think I want to know) and Blastoise settled on his haunches beside the bed. They were all silent after learning that Team Rocket had come back and Venusaur looked at Blastoise a bit nervously, who seemed to be jittery all of a sudden as well but we all looked at the humans as White rubbed her head. "Wow. Well, I guess we can go to the mines if you want. Do you want to go tonight? It is late though… and everyone's tired, so I doubt no one's doing anything in there now."

Red looked at Mew as she yawned and it was completely contagious again—every one of us also was hit with a sudden dose of exhaustion. Finally he nodded. "Tomorrow then. After your battle." He smiled as she grinned.

"Don't worry, I'll beat Rosa. I do every time!"

He snorted. "Don't say that. We thought Lance would win. Look where he ended up."

"Well, Steven does think farther ahead."

"Lance has a strong team and he was defeated way too easily this time."

"That's because he relies too much on attacking. He didn't really defend himself at all. He had amazing pokemon, they would have crushed my team, I think…" She shrugged. "Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about that. Anyway, I'm going to go to bed. Good night, Red."

She smiled at him, one that he returned. "Good night, Hilda." She gave a soft laugh as she left, closing the door gently behind her.

It was silent before Espeon jumped onto him again. _"Why didn't you walk her to her room? Or kiss her? What kind of man are you?"_

"_You monster!"_ I heard Mew shout from the side.

Red rolled his eyes as he stood up, taking off his vest to get into bed instead.

As he settled into bed, I yawned and jumped onto the bed beside Red while Mew curled up around his neck and Espeon at his other side. Blastoise settled into his shell for the night and Charizard covered his head with a wing. Snorlax was fast asleep already as Venusaur did his nightly stretches before laying down to sleep and even as I stretched, Mew was still awake, watching Red as he finally fell asleep—nearly as fast as Snorlax. It's a talent I wish I had.

I blinked sleepily as she remained awake and finally she noticed, quietly saying, _"Those strange pokemon. They're outside but they don't ever attack just… watch."_

"_They're called Bisharp, they're the Shadow Triad's pokemon," _I answered.

"_I think I should squish their brains too."_

"_They're dark-type pokemon, you can't squish their brains."_

"_No excuses. Just a few moves and then I'll have their brains in my grasp."_

I rolled my eyes and finally closed them again. Mew will always be Mew. Brain squishing and all.

X-X-X


	13. Chapter 13

_13_

_Blastoise_

If anyone asked me what I thought about humans years ago, I would have said that they were such gullible, selfish and arrogant creatures that ought to shove some sticks up their narcissistic arses. I would have said that every last one of them were annoying pests that got into everyone else's business for no good reason.

That's why I was with a group of five other Squirtles, because we all shared the same distaste for humans. We were loud and rambunctious, often causing trouble for others—humans and pokemon alike. Eventually we earned the nickname the 'Squirtle Squad' and we, quite honestly, liked the name. For years we ran around, wild and free in the coastal town, Vermillion City. We enjoyed causing misery to humans especially, though the most we could do without getting into too much trouble was soaking them from head to toe or knocking a few things over. We got a hold of paint one time and painted the side of the gym once and were nearly caught.

If anyone asked me how I felt about humans, I would have said that I hated them. I had every reason to hate them too. Two of the Squirtles had been abandoned by their trainers and had given up on battles; another had nearly been killed after being run over and the fourth had run away from an abusive trainer.

I was lucky enough to have never seen such violence, instead I had hatched wild on the beaches of Vermillion, though I had no one with me. Without any parents, I would have surely died within a few days. The four Squirtles had found me on the brink of death and took me in their care without objections; as such, I was raised by with the mindset that humans weren't nice and that I should avoid contact with them at all costs.

As I got older, I was curious and wandered into the city in the middle of the night while the others were sleeping when a strange orange glow caught my eye. I wandered towards it and when I arrived, I saw a building in flames, with humans gathered in a nervous group across the street and a couple coughing while I saw water pokemon using Water Gun against the strong fires. As I watched, I somehow knew something or someone had still been inside.

Sure, I didn't like humans, but it didn't mean that they deserved to die. Even I knew that not all of them were horrible. I was about to run for the building before I was stopped and the other four Squirtle were standing in front of me, the oldest watching with worry but our leader, the one we called Auntie, nodded and I had given her a smile. All five of us suddenly got onto all four paws and rushed for the front door, ignoring the cries of the humans and pokemon telling us to stop, that it was too dangerous.

Inside of the burning building was an old man on the second floor, who had nearly been unconscious by the time we found him. It took all five of us to carry him out and once outside, we were praised as heroes. We were each offered a position within their ranks and most of us accepted. The only two who did not were myself and Auntie and both of us were given to humans who were on journeys. I'm not sure who Auntie went with, but after being introduced to several trainers, one caught my eye after he'd walked out of the gym and staring at the new badge he'd just received with a small Pikachu on his shoulder, chattering away happily.

I remember looking up at the officer in charge of my pokéball, tugging on her pant leg and pointed towards the boy. I don't know why he'd caught my eye but the officer went to him and asked if he wanted another pokemon on his team. The boy was confused but looked at me and said nothing before he smiled at my giddy, hopeful expression and nodded. He took my pokéball and we were already heading out of the city a few minutes later. I noticed Red's lack of speaking and even asked Pikachu if he could speak and was quickly reassured by Pikachu that he could speak but chose not to most of the time.

I didn't find it too difficult to understand what Red wanted me to do during battle, Pikachu had at least warned me to keep an eye on Red during battles since he wouldn't say a word and use the smallest movements to direct me. The only person on the team I didn't 'click' with was Charmander. I'm not sure what kind of grudge he held against me at the time and I thought that he believed I was taking Red's attention from him. I didn't like him because of his attitude and the uncaring vibe he had around him at all times.

So, naturally, we would constantly fight each other.

Usually we only bickered but the first time Red had run off in the middle of the night without any of us, I nearly had a panic attack. I didn't want to end up like Auntie had been but I was confident that Red wouldn't just up and abandon us in the middle of the night without any of his own stuff. Pikachu reassured me that we weren't being abandoned and that Red had run off before and all we had to do was find him. Ivysaur mentioned that he did it all the time while Charmeleon only glared at me.

All four of us wandered off into the trees and eventually we became separated, I had lost sight of Pikachu and Ivysaur and I knew Charmeleon and I had the same faces when we looked at each other. We had to work _with_ each other? What kind of nonsense was _that_?

Charmeleon and I tried ignoring each other, but nearly thirty minutes into our trek, we were already arguing about the best way to try and find Red was. He remained silent as usual while I asked him what his problem was with me.

Quite loudly, I might add.

Loud enough to attract unwanted guests.

When the guests turned out to be waking Kakuna, Charmeleon and I froze. Just behind a tree, we heard loud buzzing noises until a few of the Kakuna started evolving and with that, we both turned and decided to run instead of wait for the Beedrill to fly after us in anger.

I never got an answer to my question, and I doubt I ever will.

I blamed Charmeleon for waking them all up and he blamed it on me. He called me a loud and noisy shellfish-ed brat and I called him a scale-faced piece of dung. We fired insults back and forth at each other but soon were too out of breath to keep going. I remember firing a Water Gun at a Beedrill who got too close to Charmeleon and snapped at the fire-type to pay more attention and just after I said it, he sent an Ember into something behind me and told me to do the same. I remember glaring at him and ran some more. Karma, after all, was a bitch.

We got a few feet away from the Beedrill and in our frantic running did we finally spot Red, who was with Pikachu and Ivysaur. Ivysaur and Pikachu turned towards us and blinked while Red was still lazing about in front of the river, watching a few of the Butterfree but he glanced over when he heard us run. He stood up but I saw him look confused when we didn't slow down and simply ran straight past them.

There was a slight hesitation and I glanced back to see Red turn quickly and heard him yelp with Pikachu and Ivysaur at the sight of the angry hoard of Beedrill and ran right after us as fast as they could. The first sentence I heard from Red's mouth—ever—was a slightly panicked, _"_What_ did you_ _two _do_?!"_

I couldn't blame him, though. When at least ten Beedrill went after something, you would run too.

Charmeleon and I traded moves beside Ivysaur and Pikachu, protecting each other and our human from unseen enemies as we ran. We eventually lost the bugs and all five of us sat on the ground underneath a tree, winded and struggled to catch our breath from the sudden sprint but Red somehow found enough breath to start laughing and eventually the rest of us, including Charmeleon, joined in. Red stood up after a little bit, brushing off dirt from his pants and watched as Charmeleon and I hesitated. I stuck out my paw first, mumbling a quiet apology and finally he did the same, shaking my paw once.

Pikachu sighed with relief as Ivysaur nodded in approval, both of them happy that we'd finally gotten over our rivalry. Red seemed to be proud of us, patting both of our heads and led the way back to the camp and to our pokéballs. Even I knew that our little outing at least did something good for our team: we were able to work together, just like what we were supposed to have been a long time ago.

A team.

Not that it doesn't mean that I want to beat the fire lizard senseless sometimes.

X-X-X

Red hadn't been able to sleep past four, had done enough tossing and turning at 4:30 and we were outside by 4:35.

The others were still dead asleep, even Mewtwo, who remained on the couch in the most peaceful state I'd ever seen him. I had only went with Red since I knew the others were still too tired to even care and because I couldn't sleep either. He didn't seem to mind my company, forgoing his jacket and hat in favor of just walking around in the black t-shirt he'd briefly slept in, pants and shoes. It was still dark and cold outside, fog from the ocean still hanging in the air in a thick cloud and the world was quiet all around us. Although the cold was nothing compared to Mount Silver, it was still brisk enough to wake us up and it seemed like we were the only ones wide awake at this absurd hour.

We wandered for a while, though I knew where he was eventually going to end up. It took us maybe fifteen minutes to reach the cliff, seeing the fog slowly drift back towards the sea as the stars seemed to disappear as it became closer to sunrise. He sat on top of the boulder that was near the cliff side while I stood beside him, watching the tide slowly begin to retreat from the beach. I smiled lightly as he shivered a little, rubbing his arms. Even though it had only been a week since we'd left the mountain, he seemed to have forgotten that the peak was much, much colder than this chill.

I looked back at the water and from the corner of my eye, I noticed Red lean forward a little, resting his elbows on his knees and frown. It didn't take a genius to know that he was still upset that Team Rocket had come back, that they had teamed up with Team Plasma and that we were all being watched. I only wished that there was some way to ease his mind; he was far too young to be worrying about these things.

"You are troubled."

Red flinched and I jumped, startled when we spun our heads around to see who the sudden intruder was.

I relaxed when I saw it was N, who stood calmly behind us as if nothing had happened and lifted his gaze from us towards the sea in front of us. "It is best not to think about it too much, you will only hurt yourself in the end."

Red scowled a little, trying to hide it as he looked away. I patted his shoulder with a smile of agreement.

"White is worried about you."

Red hesitated. "She has no reason to be," he finally replied.

"She has every reason to be." N approached us and soon took a seat on the rock next to us. I looked at him as he added, "You agree, right Blastoise?"

I nodded. _"Yes, I do,"_ I told him. _"She cares about him and he cares about her, even if he doesn't want to admit it yet." _If they were supposed to go on a date, it was obvious she cared about him. Why wouldn't she be worried, especially with how often we got into trouble?

Satisfied, he lowered his gaze back to Red. "Your Blastoise thinks so as well and also says she cares about you and you with her."

Red sighed, sitting up again. "Why are you here, N?" he finally asked.

N smiled and gave a short laugh. "Couldn't sleep so I decided to take a walk. I assume you couldn't either?"

My trainer didn't reply.

There was silence for a few minutes, but it wasn't uncomfortable. All three of us were simply enjoying the view and fresh air as the fog completely disappeared, leaving us a clear view of the dark sea. Finally, N looked at Red. "How much do you know about her?"

I glanced at N, curious and Red swiveled his own gaze towards him, surprised at the sudden question. When we were met with silence, I knew the answer. We hardly knew anything about her but I wouldn't be surprised if she hardly knew anything about him.

"Not a lot, right?" Red remained still. N leaned back, looking up at the sky. "Her favorite food is spaghetti without meatballs, she falls asleep during action movies and she tends to cuddle when she is sick." Red narrowed his eyes at him suddenly, but his look was ignored by N. "She also enjoys card games, loves chocolate covered raisins and hates shopping."

I could sense the jealousy instantly flare from my trainer and I held back laughter as he gritted his teeth together. He probably didn't know how much jealousy he was showing off right now. "How would you know any of that?" he all but demanded.

"I asked her, that's how." N smiled a bit, also sensing the aggressiveness Red suddenly held but he didn't seem to be intimidated in the least. He looked at him, the air about him only betraying kindness. "You're jealous that I know more about her than you do. Perhaps you haven't realized it, but it means you've fallen for her, my friend."

Red's eyes widened slightly, the jealousy instantly fading and turned into disbelief and embarrassment, and finally his face turned slightly pink as he pointedly looked at the water again. I rolled my eyes at him; he hadn't known this before? Perhaps Espeon was right about human boys… I shook my head to myself. No, I decided it was just my dull trainer.

"I know you are also worried about her, but not for the same reasons." My trainer still stared at the water, but I knew he was listening. "There was a time when I had also fallen for her as well, but unfortunately she didn't return my feelings. She never really had eyes for anyone until you showed up." He looked at Red, who refused to meet his gaze. "So if you keep worrying about everything that could go wrong and trying to shoulder everything on your own, she'll eventually leave. She isn't a helpless little girl."

Red looked up when N stood. It sounded as if he was speaking from experience and I thought it was admirable that N could let her go so easily.

"You also have friends that are going to help you disband Team Rocket and Team Plasma, together. You are not alone, Red. Don't think you have to do everything by yourself." N stretched. "Anyway, I didn't get to see you after your match yesterday, so congratulations on your victory. Hopefully there are more to come, right?"

Red nodded in thanks and watched as the green-haired teen walk away with a wave.

After he left, Red took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, deep in thought. I smiled again and looked at the ocean, seeing the tide disappear completely. Noise started coming from the trees again as the forest started to wake up, ready to seize the day and perform another day's worth of work. I noticed that Red was more silent than usual, though when I looked to see what he was up to, I stared at the empty spot. Pikachu called it a magic trick. Espeon said that Red was secretly a ninja. I just thought it was him taking the chance to run off, and perhaps mine made the most sense out of the three options.

He hadn't gone far, though—I saw him headed down the hill but instead of going for the city, he was squeezing himself between the rocks that led down to the beach. I knew I wouldn't be able to fit through the tight gap and looked around for another option down. If I was careful, there was a hill I could climb down and simply slide into the water, probably a five foot drop or so.

Red watched with curiosity when he noticed me moving and looked at the tunnel. Knowing him, it was probably because he'd only just remembered that I wouldn't fit through it. Eventually I was on the beach, but didn't stay for very long. He sat carefully onto my shell and we were swimming towards the open ocean, the moist, chilly air hitting us was a relaxing sensation, a reminder that the world wasn't such a horrid place.

Surfing wasn't always so relaxing when your rider wasn't such a strong swimmer. Even if he wasn't too great at swimming, he trusted me enough not to let him fall into the water. He almost drowned twice in his life and one time we hadn't even been in the ocean and Charmeleon had evolved to save him. The second time was our own stupidity, swimming out in the middle of the ocean and got caught in a storm despite the warnings. By the time we came to, we had been beached on the Seafoam Islands—saved by a school of Dewgong and Seel—and we too tired to go anywhere near the ocean water, so we explored the caves and that was how we met Articuno.

I glanced back at Red, seeing him thoroughly enjoying our swim. He was staring in the water, seeing strange pink pokemon with large fins swimming around and we both looked up as we heard a few cries of pokemon. The smaller ones I recognized, Ducklett, and the larger white ones I assumed was their evolutions. Red smiled again.

I could hear Professor Oak's voice now, and it was possible my trainer was thinking the same thing. _"The pokemon world is truly an amazing place."_

He was right.

X-X-X

"_Do you think she also likes muscles? If she does, then yours is a disappointment, mister skin and bones. You need to work out and eat more."_

Mew circled Red in the air, who had been trying to pull on a clean black tank top for the day for the past five minutes. She simply didn't let him, analyzing every feature about him as she circled him, chin on her paw. The others were in their pokéballs already, though Pikachu sat beside myself, yawning as we waited for Mew to finish analyzing Red's body. The human looked annoyed but he knew that she wasn't going to be done soon and let her do whatever she was doing.

We had returned after another hour or two of swimming and the moment we had stepped in, Mew had decided it was time to figure out why White had taken a strong liking to our trainer. I watched with amusement as she struggled to think of the reason, snapping her fingers when she stared at his glowering face.

"_She might like the silent types, or maybe she was attracted to your face, since it's obviously not your teeny-tiny muscles. Maybe it's 'cause you're pretty for a human. Your eyes have a weird color and your face has some good angles, almost feminine."_

Pikachu tilted his head, staring at our trainer with a critical look. _"You know, now that you mention it, he does look kinda girly,"_ he said.

They did have a point. Sure, Blue was always teased that he could be a girl but that was only because his hair was longer than most. His face would never pass for a female, his jaw was too strong and his voice was too deep whereas Red had soft features and could easily be mistaken as a girl if he grew his hair and put a bit of make up on. The only way people would know he was a male would be his own deep voice, which was soft but a bit deeper than Blue's.

"I don't think I want to be known as 'girly,' " he said, shooting us an annoyed look as he finally yanked the tank top on.

Mew shrugged. _"Well you can't help it, blame your mom, it's genetics."_

He rolled his eyes and looked towards the door when there was a knock.

I noticed Mew and Mewtwo both hide themselves, turning invisible for the time being. _"It's Lance, but don't tell him that we're also here,"_ Mewtwo said quietly and Red nodded once before going to the door.

I looked over when the door opened and saw that they were right and the dragon master smiled a little, looking tired. He had dark circles under his eyes and I thought perhaps he had stayed up all night by how sluggishly he waved. "Sorry for coming by so early, can I come in?" he said and Red nodded, stepping to the side to let him in. I glanced at the alarm clock, seeing that it was only seven-thirty in the morning.

Lance briefly nodded towards Pikachu and I and we returned the favor before he turned back to Red when he closed the door.

"You may already know, but Team Rocket's back," he said and when Red nodded, he chuckled softly to himself. "Figures you did." Red said nothing and didn't smile, but even I was confused. Why was Lance here? He never stopped by to say 'hello.' His face turned serious again. "I don't want you doing anything reckless."

Red blinked in confusion, tilting his head slightly.

"You know what I mean. I don't want you to go after them. I have a bad feeling about this and it isn't going away."

He only shrugged, grabbed his shoes and sat down on the couch to start pulling them on.

Lance was frowning at his silence. "Red, I'm serious."

"Why?" Red finally asked, his attention on his shoes as he untied them and slipped his feet in.

Lance frowned, watching him. "You do realize the next time Team Plasma see you, and they have told you this, that they will try to kill you? Team Rocket is probably right on board with that idea after what you did to them. You can't ignore that and go on without a care."

When he was met with another shrug and silence, he sighed.

He then walked towards the couch Red sat on, stood in front of him then knelt to his level and put his hands onto either side of his shoulders, causing Red to blink and look up. "Stop being so careless. Champion or not, none of us want to see you get hurt—much less _killed_, Arceus forbid. You know how much of a conscious we'd have if we knew we could stop it?"

I was just as confused as Red looked. "Why do you suddenly care? Or anyone else?"

Lance didn't answer his question at first, instead gazed at him with a scrutinizing look. "You have a lot of people who care about you, Red. Just humor me and say you won't go chasing after them."

Red frowned. "I took Team Rocket down when I was ten," he replied dryly. "I've only gotten stronger since then."

"I realize that, but you're still just a kid." Lance removed his hands but he remained where he was. "I am just worried about you. You may have taken them down when you were ten, but I know that you are still suffering from it."

Red's eyes widened with shock and I was surprised as well. Very few people knew about the night terrors, so how could he have possibly known anything about what happened? "How—"

"It's as plain as day. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out." He blinked. "No pun intended."

Red frowned deeply, looking away.

"Team Rocket seems different this time, and even with your strength, I doubt they will be easy to take down. When the time comes, all of us will go after them this time." Lance stood and took a step back. "I know you aren't going to listen to me." He crossed his arms. "Just be careful, Red. Promise me at least that."

Red nodded once and satisfied, Lance turned to leave then paused when he reached the door. "You know—" he looked over his shoulder as Red looked up, blinking. "—Ethan argued with me a lot more than you did. Keep him out of trouble too, will you? You don't know the details, but he also had to deal with Team Rocket."

He nodded again and the moment the door closed again, Red pulled on his over shirt as the two psychics showed themselves again. _"It's so cute that he's worried about you two!"_ Mew said with a smile. _"Can I keep him as a pet?"_

"_No, you may not,"_ Mewtwo grumbled.

She pouted. _"Aww… why not?"_

"He's annoying," Red grumbled.

"_He is only trying to protect you,"_ I said, hoping Mew was translating. _"He only wants the best for you both."_

Red simply remained silent this time, making sure he was ready to go as Mewtwo got off the wall, glancing towards Mew and said, _"You and I will go to the mines now."_ He turned to Red._ "Even Lance knew you weren't going to heed his warning. So, after White's battle, meet us there, Red."_

He received a nod and he disappeared without another word.

Mew groaned, something about wanting to watch a battle, but she turned to Red, smiling. _"We'll be there with Blue and the others. It anything starts to get too dangerous, I'll bring you there, okay?"_ She disappeared without waiting for an answer and I glanced at Red.

He smirked at me, nodding and headed for the door as I rubbed my head. Despite Lance's warning and worry, I had a pretty good feeling that he was going to do something reckless in the near future.

X-X-X

We met White outside after breakfast and she seemed incredibly nervous and excited when we first saw her that morning. She was sitting on the stair that led up to the door, holding back a yawn and when she heard the door open, she turned and smiled brightly as soon as she spotted Red and waved happily. "Good morning!" she said and I politely waved back as Pikachu gave off loud chirps as well. Red descended the two steps from the door and approached her as she waited, but then paused as she stood. "You're even quieter than usual," she noted.

Huh. For knowing him for only a week, she certainly had good observation skills.

"Want to tell me what happened?"

"Couldn't sleep," Red replied and also yawned. "Took a walk with Blastoise and met N at the cliff. Went for a swim. Came back, talked to Lance. Had breakfast."

She huffed. "You're so blunt, it kinda irritates me." I could relate to that. He had his moments when he could explain things in detail, but he preferred speaking as little as possible. I watched the two, remembering what Mew was trying to figure out. Why in Arceus' name _had_ she noticed him? It was a mild curiosity, but I decided not to press the issue. I'm sure Espeon and Mew would figure it out in no time.

Red smiled but remained silent as she looked up at him.

"What did N want to talk about?"

With that, Red paused and suddenly turned a light shade of pink. "N-nothing."

She looked confused then abruptly grinned mischievously as she poked his chest. "That's the first time I've heard you stutter," she teased. "I think it's kinda cute."

He scowled playfully, pushing her hand away.

"Aw, come on, tell me! Was it something embarrassing? Did he tell you a story?"

"Something like that…"

Pikachu rolled his eyes and jumped off of Red's shoulder in favor of my own. _"Espeon, Mew and Mewtwo aren't here. They're alone. They could just kiss or something,"_ he whined.

"_Is this a new life goal?"_ I questioned. _"To get them to kiss each other?"_

"_That and finally go on a damn date."_

I shrugged and followed Red and White as they started walking towards the stadium. _"Just be patient, Pikachu."_

"_Patience is not one of my virtues."_

"_We all know that."_

Pikachu simply grunted, _"Hmph!"_ They did say that starter pokemon tended to take on the traits of their trainer more so than the others in a team, and it was unfortunate that Pikachu had picked up Red's stubbornness.

As soon as we reached the stadium, we took the back entrance to avoid the thick crowd of people trying to get inside. White stopped at a hall, the same one that led towards the waiting room and bottom of the stadium. "The others probably aren't here, I told Black to go to the mines this morning. Blue and the others are probably at the mines as well, having all the fun."

"Mew and Mewtwo also went," Red replied and she nodded, looking almost relieved.

Even I knew she wouldn't admit she was worried about her brother but she grinned again. "Rosa will be easy to beat, we battle all the time and she'll probably start out with Hydreigon—she always does." She shrugged then waved as she dashed off down the stairs. "I'll meet you after the battle?"

Red nodded again. "Good luck." He blinked when she stopped and turned around, heading back up the stairs. She had no intention of slowing down and hugged him tightly, making him smile again and hug her back. "You wanted a hug?"

"Kinda," she replied into his chest.

"Could have just said so."

She smiled and looked up at him. "Thanks, Red."

"You're welcome, Hilda."

Then Pikachu and I stared at White as she got onto her toes and kissed his cheek. It was a light peck, but it was enough to stun my trainer, almost like he'd been paralyzed by Lick. "That's for wishing me good luck," she said, but I saw her face turn red and she turned, running as fast as she could down the hall that led to the waiting room.

Red was at a loss and finally freed himself from his own paralysis, putting a hand on his left cheek where she had kissed. "Huh," was all he could manage to say as Pikachu patted the other side of his cheek.

"_Isn't it supposed to be the guy that kisses the girl first?"_ Pikachu finally asked.

I shrugged. _"Not necessarily. But be glad we were here to witness it. Espeon won't be happy that she missed it."_

Pikachu laughed as Red turned to us, his face still pink from the kiss he'd just received. _"His face is priceless!"_

I smiled as well but Red's eyes flicked to the side when running feet were heard and was suddenly stumbling to remain on his feet and upright when a body tackled into him with joy. I was about to pry the girl off but upon seeing a familiar shirt and skirt on, I knew exactly who this girl was.

"Oh! Red!" she said happily, hugging him around his neck. "It's so good to see you! I haven't seen you in _forever_!"

"Leaf?!" he said, startled.

She lifted her blue eyes, smiling happily. "The one and only!" She stepped back and examined him with a critical eye that nearly matched Mew's from earlier. "You've gotten taller, too. That mountain might be doing you some good."

He rubbed his head and Pikachu laughed at him. _"You have gotten a lot taller since when we met you,"_ he told the trainer.

"Oh, Pikachu! You're as cute as ever!"

Pikachu was promptly lifted and hugged but the moment he threatened a Thundershock, she instantly let him go, giggling. She then turned to me, smiling again. "And is it just me or am I as tall as you are now?"

I heard Pikachu laugh and Red sigh. _"My height is not something you should be worried about,"_ I told her.

"What are you doing here?" Red demanded and she giggled instead. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You're the one who doesn't tell me when you come down from that stupid mountain to visit your mom." Red's face flushed from guilt but she smiled again anyhow. "I didn't know I was coming either until yesterday," she replied and held her hands behind her back. "Professor Oak asked me if I wanted to go and since I knew you were here, I wanted to surprise you and made the professor promise he wouldn't tell you."

Red shook his head with a loud sigh. "I haven't talked to him since before we left Kanto."

Leaf shrugged. "Well, maybe you should go say hi, wanna come with me? I promised I'd get us drinks."

He shook his head. "I have plans already." And we weren't about to invite her to the danger.

She only grinned. "Then I'll find you and go with you! Let's meet up at six thirty at the front gate here! See ya, Red!" She waved and began to run down the hall she'd come from.

"Wait, Leaf—" Red stopped when he realized she was already too far away. Well, wasn't this just great?

He looked at Pikachu and I, then groaned loudly as he rubbed his face and headed up the stairs. He stuffed his hands in his pockets as soon as he'd taken a seat in the box, which was empty. I was grateful for the privacy, it was something we seemed to lack recently. We sat in silence for a while and it let me wander around in my own thoughts. N's appearance at the cliff made me wonder if he knew we were out already or if he was telling the truth and was just walking around as well. He made Red forget about the worries of two different teams and made him think about White for a few hours, which I was grateful for.

A stressed Red equals a cranky Red.

When Lance had come, it was a surprise. He must have found something out if he looked so tired and if he was warning us to be careful. Whatever it was, I'm sure we would question him later.

Then White had kissed him. Sure, it was just a light peck on the cheek, but it still counted, right? It was clearly distracting Red from anything else as he put his hand on his cheek again, as if it was sacred. I'm not sure what he felt, but a mix of emotions was constantly changing in him though he remained silent as usual as Pikachu tried to explain to him that he was the one who was supposed to kiss her first.

Then the sudden meeting with Leaf. When had she even _arrived_? We hardly ever saw the girl, she was always gone when we visited Pallet Town. I wasn't quite sure what her and Red's relationship was, but they seemed to be extremely close by the way he talked around her just like his mother just now. It got me thinking: I was pretty sure Red was an only child, he had said so himself that he was. She might be a cousin or a close friend.

For now, I looked up to inspect the arena. The box across the stadium held only three people: Ethan, Brendan and Dawn. I knew Ethan was just chatting it up with them, perhaps just trying to figure out what pokemon his opponent had but once as cheering began and I looked towards the field again.

The screen above the box across from us suddenly lit up, showing the day's battles and scheduled times. The cheers suddenly erupted when it suddenly flashed to show the pictures of White and Rosa as a voice suddenly echoed through the sky saying, _"Welcome to day two of the Champion's Round! Yesterday was such an exciting day here, and it will be just as exciting, if not more, today! Without further ado, let's begin!"_

I glanced towards the ground, seeing the two metal doors slide open.

"_Our first battle of the day are two Unova favorites! Champion Rosa and Champion White!"_

Pikachu cheered happily, all of us watching the two girls appear on either side on the podiums.

"_This is a full six-on-six battle, use of items such as potions and revives are prohibited and you may switch at any time. Please send out your first pokemon!"_

Rosa threw a pokéball first and true to White's words, she shouted, "Go, Hydreigon!" The dragon soon appeared and I was curious if the two heads for hands were, well, alive.

White tossed hers the same time with a loud, "Come on out, Stoutland!" Stoutland landed heavily on the field with a proud bark, standing his ground.

"_You may begin!"_

"Hydreigon, use Dragonbreath!" Hydreigon reared his middle head and fired the putrid breath towards Stoutland, who remained where he was.

"Dodge it and use Work Up!" White shouted. Stoutland immediately obeyed and soon shook his fur, Work Up successful. "Now use Ice Fang!"

"Counter it with Crunch!"

Fangs met in the air, but I watched as Stoutland skillfully avoided Hydreigon's largest head and a strong set of jaws then landed on his back, sinking ice-covered fangs into Hydreigon's wing. The dragon roared in pain, and with only one wing, they were unable to stay in the air and he crashed into the ground as Stoutland leaped off. When Hydreigon got back up, I could see that the wing was frozen over and would be unable to fly again until it melted. Rosa noticed it as well and she looked worried but she didn't acknowledge anything in her expression, instead shouting, "Hydreigon, use Dragon Pulse!"

Stoutland was caught by surprised by the sudden counter-attack and gave a loud yelp, but he was right back up and charging straight for the dragon. "Stoutland, use Superpower!"

Rosa gasped. "Hydreigon!"

Hydreigon cried out, being thrown to the side and crashed into the ground again, though when he didn't get up, she sighed and returned him as cheers erupted in the audience. I saw Red smile a little—I knew he was happy with the first win.

The younger Unova girl tossed another pokéball. "Golurk! You're up!"

White gritted her teeth together. Judging by Golurk's appearance, I assumed it was a ghost, and as soon as Rosa shouted for it to use Earthquake, I knew it was also a ground-type. Red was completely fascinated with the pokemon, scanning it with his pokedex. Pikachu leaned over to read it and looked at me. _"Says it was man-made, just like Porygon,"_ he told me.

Huh, no wonder it looked almost like a mechanic's set of gears.

"Stoutland, use Crunch!"

"Golurk, Hammer Arm!"

I inwardly winced when Golurk's large arm made contact with Stoutland's side, sending the pokemon flying into the arena wall. White shouted for her pokemon, frowning and recalled him when she realized he had already fainted. Just as quickly, she tossed out another pokéball with a loud, "Go, Serperior!"

The grass snake made a cooing noise, pounding his tail against the ground. "Use Coil!"

"Golurk, get up close!" Golurk tucked its arms to its sides and its hands disappeared suddenly, letting loose two rockets that propelled it forward. As soon as it was close enough, Rosa smiled. "Now use Heavy Slam!"

"Serperior, Leaf Blade!"

Serperior ducked and slithered out of the way of the attack. When Golurk hit empty air and hit the ground, his tail glowed a bright green, taking a sharp look and he sliced it as hard as he could against the ghost. Golurk raised an empty arm, suddenly shooting its fist out with Mega Punch.

As the battle raged, I heard the door open behind us and when I turned to see who it was, I blinked. I had no clue who this blue-haired man was, walking towards the seats and sat down in the row behind us. Red looked over, not recognizing him either but he was immediately wary of him. The man gave a smile, but I sensed something was off about him, perhaps by the way his teal eyes looked at Red seemed to twinkle maliciously.

"You don't know who I am, do you, champion?" he asked. When he was met with silence, he laughed. "Ethan isn't here, I see. A bit disappointing, I was sort of hoping to give him a piece of my mind. Ah, there he is, on the other side of the arena."

Red frowned deeply and Pikachu started hissing, his cheeks sparking. If this man knew Ethan, he was up to no good.

"I wouldn't do anything. We don't need to attract unwanted attention." He sat up, folding his hands in his lap.

"How did you get up here?" Red demanded.

"I had help. Don't worry, we just knocked a few heads around. No one's been hurt. Yet."

I lowered my cannons towards him and Pikachu was on the top of the seats, staring at the man with a glare that even I was nervous of.

"Your girlfriend seems to be doing pretty well down there, too. She is a very capable trainer just like yourself," he added, seeing Serperior knock Golurk out of the battle. The man then nodded towards the stands. "Some of my men are stationed down there too, you know." His men? I didn't like the sound of this at all, but he kept talking.

"Petrel excels at disguises. Proton is dealing with your friends at the mine. Ariana is probably with the Shadow Triad and Ghetsis."

My eyes widened, recognizing those names. _Team Rocket?!_ I looked at Pikachu as he hissed again, even more sparks flying. I turned my eyes across the arena, briefly noticing that Ethan was missing from the other side and that Rosa and White hadn't seen a thing, still battling. Then I turned back towards the blue-haired man. Why did he have to show up _now_ of all times?

He then held his hand up, holding a small stick with a red button. "If you turn the safety off of this, then everything goes 'boom.' You seem to have some experience with explosions, don't you?"

Red's eyes narrowed dangerously.

By using the process of elimination, this man was a part of the four admins of Team Rocket and the very same ones Ethan had told us he had defeated two years ago.

His dark smile returned and he offered his free hand to shake. "Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Champion Red. I am Archer, leader of Team Rocket."

X-X-X

* * *

**A/N:** And here comes Archer! :D


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **There's really no excuse as to why this chapter took so long to be posted, and on a cliffhanger too! I've had this chapter half-written for months but just couldn't find a way to finish it off until now. But here it is! Don't give up! I'm back at it!

* * *

_14_

_Pikachu_

Telling us to relax was hardly something we could do. This man, the new leader of Team Rocket, seemed far crueler than Giovanni had ever been. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who would go on and spit out all their plans to us even if he didn't have the upper hand. Unfortunately for us, however, he _did_ have the upper hand. More than a few lives were in danger, and I doubted this man even cared about his subordinates if he was willing to blow the place up.

Red's eyes narrowed on Archer, both hands were in fists so tight, I could've sworn I could see his knuckles through his fingerless gloves. Archer didn't seem to care about that, nor did he care if Blastoise's two large cannons were focused on his head or the furious sparks that danced from my cheeks. However, he only addressed Red as his look darkened with anger. "Oh, with that look you look like a killer." He laughed and then shrugged as he relaxed more in his seat. He lowered his offered handshake when Red refused to take it. "You'd have made a good Rocket Executive, we really could have used someone like you on our side."

Red said nothing. I briefly remembered the previous day, which Reunclius hadn't found anything at all—nothing out of the ordinary, no bombs, nada. Were we just looking in the wrong places? Did they push through security in the middle of the night? But I could see the little switch and knew that I could just easily knock it out of his hands however Red made no motion for Blastoise and I to attack just yet. Maybe if I just used enough electricity it would fry the system and let us safely remove whatever bombs could be in the area. Perhaps he had questions first.

Archer sniffed, scratching his nose without a care in the world. "So what will you do? Are you going to stop little old me to get this remote or are you going to behave and watch the match?"

Red eyed the remote that he held close to him, but none of us were blind to the pokeballs he had on his own waist. Archer could easily just click a button and release whatever pokemon he had and start a battle. If we did battle and even won, we would most definitely attract unwanted attention and it would just cause a panic when people realized who this man was. Once a panic would start, then I'm pretty sure however many Rocket grunts there were would just take control of the situation and we'd just put more people in danger.

My trainer still had his hands in tight, frustrated fists and looked at the cheering crowd as White smiled and Serperior panted but proudly held his head high after defeating Rosa's Golurk. I knew he wouldn't do anything when he finally looked away, gritted his teeth together and finally the fists of fury were relaxed and his shoulders slacked slightly with defeat.

Archer smirked, knowing he had won. "Relax, champion, no one will get hurt if you just listen to me. Besides, all I want to do is talk." He then turned the sharp eyes towards myself and Blastoise. "Return your blastoise. The pikachu can stay out if you wish, I've not seen you return it unless it's injured in a battle."

Blastoise started to growl, but he looked at Red and said nothing to either of us as he kept his two cannons trained on the blue haired man. He didn't want to go back and I didn't blame him, I felt the same way. Our trainer made no move to grab our pokeballs, though, and frowned as Archer gave a quiet sigh. "So stubborn." He held up the little stick of doom with the red button of destruction. "Would you rather see everything gone? Do as I say."

Red spared a glance towards the battle below and reluctantly grabbed Blastoise's pokeball and returned him.

Archer pretended to look disappointed once the pokeball was clipped onto my trainer's belt. With that man, though, I didn't know if he really _was_ disappointed. "Honestly, it would just be easier to get rid of all of you here and now, since most of the world's strongest trainers are right here in this very stadium."

I flicked my ears as I heard Serperior use a powerful move—I assumed it was Frenzy Plant with the way people were cheering White on. _"I really, really hate you_," I said out loud over the resulting crashing noise even without a translator around.

"What do you want?" Red demanded, ignoring his comment. He hated being controlled just as much as I did, perhaps more.

"The Shadow Triad told you most of it already. At least, what Team Plasma wants. Their goal is simple and ideal—they want Unova to be theirs. So we of Team Rocket decided to reform and join them even if Giovanni refuses."

Red glowered at him and both of us were only slightly relieved to hear that Giovanni was telling the truth for once. I frowned and flicked my eyes up at Red; his mouth was in a thin line, eyes blazing with hatred as he stared at the man. But since Team Rocket joined Team Plasma, wouldn't that just make Team Rocket their henchmen? If Ghetsis was leading them through this, what point was Archer being here? Was a human's greed really that great? I briefly wondered if Giovanni was on their side again.

I watched as Archer sat up. "We are painting a bigger picture. What Team Rocket wants is something much more than just Unova. Why not aim for the world? It may seem like a cliché goal but governed by a single organization instead of hundreds, this world will be brought to better heights and a new age! Even you have to admit that Team Rocket's technology is far superior to most."

Red didn't say a word since we knew it was true, we had experienced it first hand. They were the ones who had invented the warp panels, after all. Silph Co. had unknowingly bought that idea from Team Rocket and Sabrina herself had installed some into her own gym. They had so many scientists on their side as well, they were the first ones who created pokemon and learned how to bring extinct pokemon back to life, for Arceus' sake!

"What we lack in power, we make up for in our own knowledge. Ghetsis saw that as well. They had a very smart man with them as well—a scientist named Colress—that had a few of his own inventions that we're now delving into as well. The man's work is commendable. Anyway, we need you to stay out of the way, you seem to have a knack of getting in people's ways."

I gritted my teeth together again. We haven't even done anything yet! I paused. There it was, yet. We haven't done anything _yet._ And Archer knew it. He was going to try and keep us out of the way, wasn't he? Well, I hate to say it but they were taking better precautions.

He paused when the door opened suddenly and revealed a panting man trying to catch his breath. "Archer! There's a kid going around and beating all of us with an overpowered Typhlosion! We think he may be headed this way!" he said loudly. "We need to get out of here, he's going to be here soon!"

Ethan? How in Arceus' name did he figure out that Team Rocket was here? I felt some hope rise through my own anger; despite the Johto champion being the most annoying person on the face of this planet, he was dependable and a very powerful trainer and on top of that, Archer didn't seem to have any plans about how to deal with him. He could even help us get out of this mess and perhaps we could clock in overtime and get rid of Team Rocket here.

There was a brief moment of silence and Archer stood, walking towards the door and paused. "I'd like to finish this conversation, and I'm sure you want to as well, Champion. So I'll give you two choices." He held up one finger. "You can come with me or," he rose a second finger, "you can stay here. However, if you stay, I cannot guarantee the safety of the people in this stadium." He lowered his arm, hands behind his back calmly.

Red suppressed an angered grunt, looked towards the battle and White but then gritted his teeth and walked for the door while I followed closely at his heels. I noticed that even though Archer took the lead, there were three other men waiting for us at the end of the hall to lead the way downstairs.

We made our way all the way to the back door without any interruptions, which seemed to please Archer as he ordered the guards to keep an eye out for Ethan, but not to bother fighting him. Not even a few seconds later, I heard pounding feet and spotted the boy trying to catch his breath the moment he stepped foot into the hall. His golden eyes widened when he saw Archer and Red. "Hey!" he snapped, while Typhlosion was right in front of him and preparing himself for a battle.

Archer didn't seem to care. "Good morning, Ethan," he replied simply. He turned, heading for the door. "If you don't want people to die, I suggest you stay there. Red and I haven't finished our conversation."

I hissed at him just for the sake of hissing and heard Typhlosion snarl as well. _"What is he talking about?"_ he asked me.

Ethan shook his head, hands in fists. "I knew you were here when I tried to go to Red's box to watch the rest of the match there. Few of your goonies put up a good fight, and at least I caught up to you before you could leave."

"Good for you," Archer drawled. He turned his head to Red, who glared as well but paused to think. Finally when he smirked, he stepped to the side for a clear path from Red to Ethan. "Hand your pokeballs to Ethan. Pikachu stays with him."

Ethan's eyes snapped wide open, and I felt my heart skip a beat as Red hesitated with a hand on the pokeballs on his waist. "What are you talking about? He's not going to do that!"

"Men will go to the extremes to protect those he loves," Archer replied calmly.

Ethan grunted and even I knew if Red did that and went with them, he'd be _completely _defenseless against them! If I knew this, he knew as well!

I had no idea what Red was thinking in that moment, I couldn't read his face or even his eyes. He'd gone and done the magic trick he did to spectators: he made himself emotionless. I ran in front of him, shaking my head rapidly. _"You can't possibly agree to that! Red, don't you know what that means!"_ I shouted at him, fully understanding that Red had no clue what I was saying to him. I'm sure he got the gist of it even as he lowered his eyes, red irises glassed over.

Ethan froze when Red ignored me and walked to him, putting the pokeballs into his hands. "What!? Red, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" he whispered harshly.

Red frowned, shaking his head. "Look for the bombs," he uttered quietly to him as Archer turned to a guard, telling them to get a car started. He looked at me and nodded once to tell me to stay with Ethan. Reluctantly, I was forced to obey; we couldn't risk anyone else getting caught up in this mess.

I stood beside Ethan as he turned around, and Lance's voice popped into my head from an early morning talk: _"I don't want you doing anything reckless."_

Sorry, Lance. Looks like Red completely ignored your advice and was doing something completely and _totally _reckless.

Ethan could barely control his shock as Red went back to Archer as a guard opened the door. "Good-bye, Ethan."

"Wait—Red! Stop! Don't go with them!" he shouted but he was ignored even as Red climbed in the back with the other two guards, one on either side of him. Archer opened the front passenger door and climbed inside, nodding once to the first grunt already at the wheel. "Red! Arceus damn it—Red! That idiot!"

I ran with Ethan outside just as the car drove off, though it was already disappearing around the corner. "Archer, stop!" he shouted. "Get back here!" By the time we reached the corner, the car was long gone. In his frustration, he kicked the concrete wall and I doubted he could feel the pain in his foot as a result; the adrenaline had effectively numbed him. "Arceus damn it, Red! Why did you have to go and make things so difficult!? You stupid son of a miltank!"

Typhlosion and I remained silent and looked up at Ethan as he continued to shout obscenities, not even caring if anyone else heard him. I was briefly glad that Red didn't react like that in his own anger. When he finally stopped shouting at the world, he hesitated to look at the pokeballs in his arms. "Red told me to find the bombs," he finally said quietly. I nodded and Typhlosion said nothing, watching his trainer as he took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. "So that's what we'll do. We'll find the bombs. Pikachu, we'll get Red back, I promise." He put Red's pokeballs into his pocket and waved for us two to follow him. "Come on, let's go find Lance first. He knows how to disable explosives… I think."

I heard Typhlosion sigh. _"Always jumping to conclusions,"_ he mumbled but followed the boy regardless.

"_Red should have already alerted Mew and Mewtwo, so even if Lance doesn't know how to disable them, they can teleport them far, far away,"_ I told him. Typhlosion seemed relieved to hear this and nodded.

"_Good."_

"_Whatever Red has in mind, he must've told them not to help us. They could have easily stopped Archer and none of this would have happened,"_ I muttered, mostly to myself.

Typhlosion grunted as we followed Ethan back inside. _"From experience, Red probably has something up his sleeve. That's probably why he let them take him away so easily. We'll just have to wait and see why."_

I didn't like it, but I knew he was right. Red was clever and brave, but just as Lance suspected, he was also incredibly reckless. I just hoped he didn't get hurt because of it… or worse.

We made our way up to the other side of the arena to the other box as fast as our legs could take us. Ethan was completely out of breath, but so was Typhlosion. They had, after all, fought their way down to where we had been and I wasn't surprised they were tired. Ethan opened the door to the box as fast as he could and made an annoyed sound when our caped savior wasn't there. "Do you know where Lance is?" he asked Dawn.

The girl blinked, looking curious. "Lance? No idea, maybe you can check the hotel and see if he's there. Why?" She turned around in her seat to face him but waited for the answer patiently.

"Arceus damn it," Ethan muttered and I saw him struggle not to nervously pace.

Brendan sat up. "Is everything okay, Ethan?" he asked. Kecleon also looked concerned, looking between all of us.

"_Pikachu? What are you doing with Ethan? Where's Red?"_ he asked.

Brendan frowned in worry when Ethan didn't reply to either question for a while. "Why is Pikachu with you? Where's Red?" It's almost like the two could read their minds and ask the same questions at the same time.

Ethan took a breath. "I don't know," he replied quietly.

Brendan stirred uncomfortably but he looked concerned. "What do you mean you don't know?" he asked, standing up.

He held his hands in fists, much like Red had done earlier today. "I mean Team Rocket is here, they planted bombs somewhere, Lance isn't here to help me disarm them and Archer took Red to Arceus knows where!" Ethan replied sharply and quickly, causing Brendan to flinch.

"Ethan, calm down," Dawn said gently and went to him. She put a hand on his shoulder, which seemed to effectively keep his attention on her. She kept her eyes on him and even though he was taller and physically stronger than her, she had a presence that couldn't be ignored and had a leader's air surrounding her and Ethan couldn't even unlock his own eyes from hers. Perhaps this wasn't her first time calming an angry boy before. Calmly she said, "Go find Lance. I'll tell Cynthia what happened, she and Lucario can find those bombs. Brendan, you wait here and tell White and Rosa what happened, they will probably want to come too. Meet me at the front gate when you find them. Ethan, after you get Lance, you have to come back here, your match is next against Calem. I will inform the officials that you may be a little late."

Ethan narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "No! I am not battling someone when Red is in danger! He's risking his _life_ right now and you want me to go out there and do a show?"

Despite his temper, she nodded and removed her hand. "Yes, I need you to put up a show. However, it is not a show to the spectators here. It's a show to Team Rocket."

Even I was confused and I looked at Typhlosion and Kecleon. That confusion calmed the golden-eyed champion drastically as he closed his mouth in a tight frown. "A show to Team Rocket?" Brendan muttered.

Dawn nodded again, turning to him. "Yes. If they see that the battles are still going on, they'll think they have won and no one gets hurt, right? After the battles, you come and find us. Sound like a plan?"

Ethan didn't seem to like it but he grumbled something and nodded. "Pikachu, go with them. You'll be more help with them than me," he said softly.

I whole-heartedly agreed. I went to Dawn and Brendan's feet, watching Ethan hand Red's pokeballs to Brendan. "If you find Red before my match is over, give these back to him," he said, much quieter this time, and quite possibly the most serious I'd ever seen the human.

I watched him run off and Dawn looked at me. "Pikachu, stay with Brendan." I nodded and watched her leave as Brendan sighed, looking down as Rosa sent out another Unovian pokemon.

"What a right mess we're all in now, Pikachu," he said and sat down, looking at White. I jumped into the seat beside him, looking up at him. "We all know about Red and White. What is she going to say?" He involuntarily shuddered. "I don't want to face her wrath."

I knew he was trying to shed a little light on the situation, but I couldn't help but ignore him and he didn't seem to care as he leaned back in the seat, closed his eyes and rubbed them with his right hand, his left draped over his stomach. We were both worried and even though I knew Red had something planned, I couldn't help but be scared for him. He'd never been taken like this before and I couldn't imagine what he was feeling at the current moment, whether he was scared, confident or even a mixture of those plus more. The only times we'd ever been separated was if we were in a pokemon center or if he wandered off into the wilderness but if anything did happen to him, I didn't think I'd ever be able to forgive myself.

With my own long and drawn-out sigh, I curled up into a tight little ball on the seat beside Brendan in our lonely box that overlooked the arena and mentally cursed the world for bringing my trainer such horrible luck within the past few days.

Despite the growing cheers, the announcer's voice and loud explosions, neither of us could pay any more attention to the battle going on below.

X-X-X

I don't know how much time passed, but Brendan had picked me up when I didn't move and I realized then I really was down in the dumps, the guilt beginning to rack up. Brendan had had been calling my name for a little bit before resorting to lifting me from the chair, but he quickly dropped me when my cheeks threatened to shock him. "Sorry," he immediately apologized. But when he looked up I had to follow his gaze.

Coming inside were Ethan and Lance, both looking grim. "It would be best if you went to go help Dawn find Red, Brendan," Lance said. I could barely hear him mumble something about someone not listening to him and I smiled a little when I knew he was talking about Red. "Ethan, you go get ready for your battle, it's about to begin." Ethan nodded and quickly walked off.

Lance then turned to me and patted my head with a hand. "Don't you worry, Pikachu. Once we get Red back we can both yell at him together."

I nodded. _"He needs to get some sense knocked into his head anyway,"_ I told him even as Lance stood back up.

"Brendan, don't tell anyone about what happened. We don't want to cause a major panic understand? I'm going to go and search for anything, you just go meet Dawn."

Brendan nodded and picked me up to begin running down the stairs to reach the front door in silence. I knew the battle was ending and we heard the final explosion, that last clash between two different pokemon, through the concrete walls leading down to the first floor.

We met a delighted White down on the first floor just before we passed the stairs that led downstairs into the battler's waiting rooms after her battle and just like Brendan and Dawn were, she was confused when she saw me without my own trainer. "Where's Red? I have to tell him I'm moving onto the next round!" she said with a big smile. I knew we were about to wipe it off her face and I felt guilty about it, but when she saw Brendan didn't smile back and I didn't give her a greeting, she slowly lost the smile to replace it with a worried frown. "Brendan? Where is Red?"

Brendan shifted uneasily on his feet, clearly not liking to be the one to give her the news. It didn't help that Rosa showed up, and even though she didn't seem to be as happy as White did, she smiled at us anyhow with a wave. "Hey, guys!" she greeted and paused when she didn't get a response at first. "Are you guys okay?"

"No idea," White muttered and Rosa blinked before looking at Brendan and I. "They haven't said anything and Red isn't here."

Brendan sighed and looked nervous all over again. "Well for starters, Team Rocket is here."

Both Unova trainers looked shocked. "Here?!" they cried in unison.

He nodded. "Two: there's bombs somewhere around here."

"I thought we scoured the place the other day! Not even Reunclius found any!" Rosa said and White nodded in agreement.

"I know." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Last but not least…" He glanced at White. "They took Red."

White stopped breathing and Rosa's eyes widened with surprise. "What?" White whispered, looking paler than before. "They did what?"

Brendan sighed, pinching his nose. "You heard me. Dawn is looking for Cynthia so she could help disarm the bombs and Lance is already looking around."

White looked at Rosa and then down at me as I chirped at her, trying to look as apologetic as I could and was surprised when she simply picked me up from Brendan's arms. I winced slightly at how tight she was holding me but with one look at her worried face, I knew better than to object. Brendan turned around. "Dawn seems to have a plan. Let's meet her now."

By the time we reached the front gate, I could already see Dawn waiting for us just outside of the stadium in the sun. We reached her in no time and Dawn looked at me without another greeting. "Pikachu, did you see which way they took Red?" she asked.

I nodded and squirmed out of White's arms, waving a paw to get the humans to follow me. As soon as we passed the other side of the stadium, I pointed down the road the car had disappeared to. "Pi," I said out loud.

Dawn nodded then looked at Brendan as he turned to the two Unova natives. "Where does that lead to?" he asked.

"Well, lots of places," Rosa started. "If they go straight, there's a bunch of restaurants, there's a few hotels there and there is a cold storage site if they turn left before the road ends."

"Or if they turn right," White added, "Then Clay Tunnel is that way."

Rosa pulled out her Xtranseiver. "I'll call Nate and ask where he and the others are at now."

White nodded and as Rosa pressed a few buttons on the device on her wrist, I glanced up as Dawn turned towards us. "So wherever they are at, we can look in other places. I don't want us to be separated any more than we already are," White said.

"Agreed," Dawn and Brendan both said.

"Hey, Nate," Rosa suddenly said.

"_Oh, hi, Rosa,"_ Nate's voice answered. Unsurprisingly, we could see his face on the other screen but there was very little lighting indicating he was in a cave. _"We're at Clay Tunnel now, can't talk too much, in the middle of a battle. What's up?"_

A battle? "We kind of ran into a small problem… erm… make that a big—no, _huge_ problem."

Nate looked confused and grunted to himself. _"Yeah, we did, too."_ He looked away from the device. _"Eelektross, Charge Beam!"_

White blinked. "What kind of problem?" she asked. "Who are you battling?"

"_The kind of problem if we fight against these pokemon, we'll probably lose without Zekrom on our side kind of problem."_ He grunted, covering his face from dust that had suddenly risen from an explosion.

The four humans with me looked between each other then finally turned back to the screen as Nate ordered another attack. "Meaning what?" Brendan asked. I noticed Dawn look confused at the names but she said nothing about it.

"_Meaning there's a Suicune here that's on their side!"_ came Blue's voice. He took the device from Nate and pointed at himself so we could see his face and I could faintly hear Black yelling attacks as well. This must have been one battle I wish I could take part in. _"Somehow, Team Rocket caught the three legendary dogs, and they're putting up one hell of a fight. Entei is down and Raikou is almost there with it."_

"_We think they're using Colress' old machine again,"_ Nate added.

"Well, you won't like this other news either," Brendan mumbled.

Blue blinked. _"What news?"_ He flicked his eyes up, keeping an eye on his own battle.

Dawn stepped forward, noticing the others look between each other. If Brendan had been nervous about White's reaction, they didn't want to see Blue's. "Team Rocket captured Red."

Blue was silent with shock. _"They did _what_?!"_ he finally exploded.

"_Who did what now?"_ Nate's voice asked.

Dawn's face kept calm. "We are going to go look for him."

"A man named Archer took him. Brendan has Red's pokemon. He's completely vulnerable!" White added.

"_How the _hell_ did _Archer_ catch _Red_? What in Arceus' name are they thinking?"_

"_Huh?"_ Nate's startled voice said. _"How did they manage that?"_

"But wait, it gets better: they planted bombs in the stadium," Rosa said.

"_Bombs?!" _Black's voice shouted. _"This just keeps getting better, doesn't it?"_

I sighed. It really did keep getting better and better.

Blue shook his head. _"I thought there weren't any—!"_

Dawn interrupted him. "Cynthia and Lance are looking for them to disarm them. Ethan will join either you or us after his battle against Calem. I'm sure you can beat those pokemon, but make sure you keep an eye out for a car that could be headed your way. We'll go to the Cold Storage and look for them there."

"_A car. Very detailed, thanks."_

"Don't mention it."

Blue grunted and rolled his eyes then handed the Xtranseiver back to Nate, who looked far more worried now. _"If Team Rocket is with us, then maybe Archer is taking Red to see Team Plasma. I don't know why they would do that, though."_

Rosa nodded. "We'll figure out when we get there."

"_Arceus, whatever Red is thinking, it's as stupid as a magikarp!"_ Blue snapped from somewhere beside Nate.

I nodded my head, completely agreeing.

"Be careful. We'll meet up tonight," White added and Rosa disconnected the call.

X-X-X

The four humans and I quickly made our way through town and scoured the streets. I couldn't see the same car that had driven off with my trainer, but as we jogged our way towards the ports, I noticed there weren't as many humans or pokemon working. One dockworker that was there said that most of the other workers were at the tournament and that he hadn't seen a car pull up at any time, nor any mysterious figures showing up.

White rubbed her head and looked at Rosa as the girl frowned in thought. "Rosa?" she asked curiously, catching the rest of our attentions.

Rosa glanced up. "There could be another place." She turned around and pointed to a hill with a house hidden behind a few trees. "That is the Plasma house. The original Team Plasma saw their many mistakes and tried returning all the pokemon they had stolen to their rightful trainers, but since they left, it's all but abandoned right now. That'd be a perfect place, right?"

"Why didn't you mention this before?" Dawn asked with a sigh.

Brendan led the way. "Let's go then!" he said and started running with the girls and I following quickly.

It was quiet as we trudged our way through the muddy hill and half way up, I could barely see the roof of the older house come into view and by the time we got closer, I could see a familiar car in the back. It looked like it had been there for maybe an hour or so by now. I glanced up at White, pointing at it. She followed my finger and frowned silently to herself. "That's the car, isn't it?" she asked quietly.

I nodded.

"Well, Rosa, you're right. They're here," Brendan said and Rosa didn't answer, only smiling briefly. "Let's be quiet from here on out, who knows if they can see us now or not." Just like that, each of us tip-toed our way onto the porch.

Of course, the thick curtains were drawn and we could see nothing through them and despite the look of the run-down wall, I could only barely hear voices from inside. I couldn't make them out, but I could hear Archer's voice along with another that I didn't recognize. White crouched down with the other three; none of them didn't want to even risk the chance of being seen through a closed window. I tugged on her hand and she glanced at me when I held up two fingers. "Pi pika." _"Two inside."_

At first she was confused but after a small game of charades she understood, giving a nod. "There's at least two other people inside," she whispered.

"Not including the grunts that went with Archer," Brendan added.

"So five, plus Red," Dawn muttered.

"Six," Rosa replied.

"Glad you guys can do math," White added sarcastically. She looked around. "There has to be a side door or something."

"If they parked in the back, I'm sure there's a door back there," Brendan said and got back up to his feet but stayed low. "I'll go double check. I'll be right back."

When he left, White nervously scratched my head, much like the way Red would. I glanced up at her, beginning to notice the small things about her—her nervous habits were almost exactly like Red's. Not that I minded, a good head scratch often calmed me down, too. Brendan returned shortly, waving for us to follow him. "There's a side door and a back door. Which one should we go through first?"

Dawn glanced at White. "Side door?"

"Side door," she confirmed.

"Let's get to it then," Brendan answered and followed Rosa to the side door.

Once we rounded the corner, White looked at the door, slowly opening it just enough so she could see inside. The room was empty, but it was dark and a washing machine was running beside a dryer. We stepped inside of the laundry room and Dawn closed the door as quietly as she could behind her. "So what should we call this?" she whispered with a smile.

"Huh?" Brendan answered, confused. I tilted my head as well with curiosity.

"This is like a secret mission you see in the movies. We could call it… Operation: Save a Date."

White's face turned a bright pink as Rosa stifled a giggle. I had to hold my mouth shut with a paw to keep myself from laughing out loud and I could almost hear Espeon's voice saying, _"OSAD is underway!"_ Dawn seemed to be doing the same thing as she held both hands over her mouth. "Now isn't the time for that!" she snapped silently.

She opened the door out of the laundry room and headed into the hall. By now I could hear Archer's voice more clearly now, along with the other mystery voice. "…ago. He's not willing to do anything that would risk the lives of other people," Archer said. "It's how I could convince him to come with us."

"Such a noble cause… One day, however, it'll only get you killed," said the second ominous voice.

There was a feminine laugh. "But we won't hurt your pretty little face," she said.

I could hear Red grunt instead and turned to look up at White. Her face had paled considerably—clearly she knew who the second man was and when I turned my head, I could see that Rosa was just the same way. Brendan noticed as well and he looked concerned. "White? Rosa? Are you two all right?"

Rosa nodded. "Yes. But I didn't think he'd be here as well," she answered.

Dawn glanced at me and I shrugged. "Who? You know him?" she asked.

White nodded as well, taking a breath as she walked forward slowly, keeping an eye out for the guards that hadn't yet noticed our presence. Briefly I wondered if they were even inside. "Yes. I know him. I could recognize that voice anywhere." She glanced at us as we made our way from the hall and towards a more open room. "That is Ghetsis, former leader of Team Plasma."

"Intruders? This isn't some sight-seeing spot, kids," a deep voice suddenly said from the couch in the living room.

The girls plus Brendan all flinched as a member of the Shadow Triad stood from his seat while a second was silently leaning against a wall while the third was not there and I couldn't help but remember my thoughts from earlier.

This day just keeps getting better and better.

X-X-X

* * *

**A/N:** Time for some review responses!

**Pokefan02: **Your review made me literally lol when I first read it. Hopefully this didn't disappoint!

**tadkins: **I don't really have a favorite champion, I really like all of them. But my top three are Red, Blue and Steven.

**WolfShadow96: **Nah, even he needs help sometimes ;)

**RandomReview: **I did warn everyone in the beginning that most of the chapters will be in Pikachu's POV. The only two I haven't written yet are Venusaur and Snorlax, they will both come later.

**catlover2976: **Hey look! I updated! XD

**fluffpenguin:** Well, we'll just have to wait and see, huh? :P


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Hello patient readers! I'm back! After moving, a Disneyland trip and lots of stressful things I finally was able to take the time to sit and write. I wrote a bit much, this chapter was going to be around 14k words, but I have split it up into two chapters. The next chapter will be posted probably on Wednesday. Thanks for being awesome people! :D

**Pokefan02:** haha, thanks :)

**LEGAL-EAGLE53:** Sarcasm is the way to go!

**fluffpenguin: **I did change the interaction with Leaf if you want to go back and read it. Not much changed, but I like this version better.

**Operator Blake:** I updated! XD

Like I mentioned to fluffpenguin, not just that scene was changed but I edited the previous chapters. Nothing major was changed, but there were a few grammar mistakes I fixed, a few scenes were edited to flow smoother and/or switched with other scenes. Anyway, onto the next chapter! Happy reading!

* * *

_15_

_Pikachu_

I've battled without my trainer beside my side to direct me before and although it didn't happen very often anymore, it was usually in a case when he was unusually lethargic or, more commonly, when we were separated from each other. I can count the times on one paw where they had scared me to think Red could actually be seriously hurt: the first time was when he'd been poisoned by the Arbok, he'd been too ill to give us any direction to fend off wild pokemon and at least he had fully recovered by morning. The second was when we had found him hiding out in Moltres' chamber—where thankfully nothing had happened—and lastly was also on Mount Silver but it was in the first few weeks we stayed there and had yet to declare ourselves the alpha of the mountain.

It was early morning when we had begun our training regimen that day; we each had breakfast together and were outside in the snow just as the sun finished rising and light started to glint and dance along the fresh snow from the previous night's blizzard. Blastoise was the first to notice that Red was gone and had disappeared, quite possibly wandering somewhere in the caves. By now we were taking turns to see who would pair together then bring Red up the fastest and after losing a rather short game of rock-paper-scissors, Venusaur and I drew the short straw and had to venture inside the dark caves to search for our missing trainer while the others searched around the mountain side.

With a quick Flash, Venusaur and I were able to see all across the caverns and after managing to catch his scent, I led Venusaur through a cave to the right. It wasn't long before we spotted our trainer beginning to climb over some rocks to get to the other side and only stopped when Venusaur called for him with a loud, annoyed roar. The boy simply looked over his shoulder and smiled sheepishly at us as we shook our heads at him. We had been over with him several times to at least tell us when he's leaving.

He waved for us to climb over the rocks to go with him and turned back around, beginning to climb some more. I swore if he was a pokemon, he'd probably be a Mankey with how well his climbing skills are. However, before any of us could move forward, the cave shuddered and the rocks began to move. Red's eyes widened as soon as an angry onix's face peeked through the rocks and before he could let go or even be pulled away, its tail slammed into him and sent him to the ground.

Venusaur kept the Onix busy with Razor Leaf as I ran to my trainer as he winced in pain, holding his left arm. The closer I got to him, the more I caught the scent of iron, a smell I was unfortunately familiar with ever since our Silph Co. escapade. Onix was angry by now, uncoiling itself from its makeshift bed and Venusaur yanked Red away from the incoming attack with vines as I leaped up and slammed an Iron Tail into the rock snake. Once Onix was defeated, Red smiled at Venusaur and patted his head to thank him for saving him.

We noticed he was still in pain but he insisted he was fine, that it was just a long and shallow gash and had stopped bleeding by the time we'd reached the summit again, though it didn't mean that it still couldn't get infected. Once the others had spotted the cut on his arm, Espeon and Snorlax bombarded Venusaur with questions as Blastoise helped Red take care of his arm with expert claws and Charizard stood guard outside to ensure no other wild pokemon would come up to attack us whilst I continued scolding my trainer for running off and getting himself hurt.

We've all been trying to take extra care to make sure he didn't run off again and while it rarely happened in the beginning after the Onix incident, he had begun to run off again out of sheer curiosity but at least by then the wild pokemon either avoided him out of fear he had any of us with him or they simply grew accustomed to our presence and left him alone.

Nonetheless, that same fear was resurfaced from the back of my mind and quite possibly doubled or even tripled the moment Red had handed over all our pokeballs to Ethan and even told me to stay behind. Anything could have happened to him and since it was a human who had forcefully separated us, I didn't know what to expect, not even from my own trainer.

Humans were far too surreptitious and unpredictable.

X-X-X

I stood at the front of the four younger trainers on all four paws and let my cheeks spark madly in the small, darkened living room. It was cramped with everyone inside and was hardly the place for a battle, but given the situation I figured it didn't matter. There was a hall to the left of us with a closed door on the right with the lights on and a dark room with the door open one on the left. I figured the one with the closed door was where we needed to go.

Although there were only two of the Shadow Triad members in my current line of sight, I knew the third one couldn't be too far away from them. Wherever he was, I had to keep my eyes peeled. These two Shadow Triad members wouldn't stand a chance against the four young champions all in a single battle, but the three of them wouldn't have stood a chance in a real battle against _us_ either; they simply used dirty tricks to get what they wanted.

The two members stood beside each other by now, the first with his arms at his sides and the second in a squatted position and looked like he'd jump up in a few moments. "What are you children doing here?" the second asked with a sly look in his eyes as he studied us.

"For one, we aren't sight-seeing," Brendan defiantly informed the two Triad members.

The first shrugged. "Breaking and entering then."

"Isn't that what you're doing?" Dawn replied with a pokeball in her hand. "This place doesn't belong to you!"

"Two, we aren't kids!" Brendan added.

The second member stared at Brendan for a moment. "So you say," he answered, "yet in my eyes you are still a child, in mind and body."

He looked annoyed and gritted his teeth together to avoid snapping at him as Dawn put a hand on his arm. "Calm down, Brendan," she whispered to him and reluctantly, he obeyed.

White seemed to have enough of the small talk and demanded without the composed demeanor Dawn held, "Where is Red?"

"He's in a meeting at the moment with Lord Ghetsis," the second answered. He stood up by then, holding his own pokeball out. "But if it is a battle you want, then a battle you will get!"

Just before he could throw a pokeball at the same time as Rosa, the door down the hall opened. I flicked my eyes towards said hall when I heard footsteps approaching at a steady pace alongside a distinct metal noise hitting the wooden floor. "What is all this ruckus about?" a deep, gravelly voice asked.

The two Shadow members immediately straightened and bowed so low, I wondered how they were still standing up without their faces landing on the floor. "Lord Ghetsis," they greeted. "We have intruders."

The older man turned one narrowed eye towards us, the other covered by a very high-tech red eye patch. Briefly I wondered if Team Rocket had given it to him as he scoffed at us. "Four of you this time? One pathetic champion wasn't enough?"

My cheeks immediately sparked again. _"We aren't pathetic!"_ I snapped at him and ignored the fact he wasn't paying attention to me.

"Lord Ghetsis, we were going to get rid of them," one of the Members said, straightening. "We saw them come in through the back and—"

"I was not asking where you saw them," he interrupted sharply, causing them both to flinch and instantly bow again.

"Hey! We're still here!" Brendan said, a scowl of irritation on his face.

"Hn, so I see. Let's do something about that."

White stepped forward, a look of pure anger on her face as she stared right up at the taller man once he turned towards the group. "Not until we get Red back," she answered coldly.

Ghetsis smirked slightly, leaning on his cane. "The Silent Champion?" He waved his left hand in dismissal. "I can assure you he's quite safe. In fact, he was just about to leave with our other guests." He lost the ghost of a smile and pointed the cane at us. "He is far safer than you are about to be."

He placed the cane back on the floor as Rosa stepped forward. "Seems you've forgotten how we squashed you not once but twice. Should I remind you how badly you lost last time and lost your mind?" she challenged. Upon seeing the steely look in her eyes, I had to remember Red wasn't the only one who'd been through some shit during our journey. I wouldn't even doubt myself if I told everyone that all four of these humans have seen awful things in their young lives.

_Note to self: don't make the girls angry,_ I thought to myself.

Ghetsis made no move to grab a pokeball of his own as the two Shadow Triad members appeared on other side of him though his eye narrowed in fury. "I cannot and will not forget." He turned around, heading down the hall. "Get rid of them."

"Yes, Lord Ghetsis," they both replied and grabbed pokeballs.

I hissed as threateningly as I could though it did little to prevent them from throwing the two pokeballs and I knew it. As if in slow motion, I watched them fly up into the air and just past the Shadow Member's legs I could see Ghetsis stop at the door and his face scowl the moment there was a single moment of silence that cut through all the noise that was about to happen. From the silence cut a very distinct noise, one that caused confusion to appear on Ghetsis' face as the sound ended.

A single _snap._

A grin was instantly plastered onto my face; that was the simple, voiceless command from my trainer for a Thunderbolt. As I sprinted past the two members with Agility just as their pokeballs began to open, I gathered electricity before stopping and fired the attack towards the black-cloaked man that took a single, startled step back as if it would help him dodge the attack.

The attack never hit him. Once I finished the Thunderbolt, I heard a soft chuckle through the smoke of the blocked attack. _"Did you really think only those two were here?"_ said the unmistakable voice of Absol. She tossed her mane with a cocky grin as Protect faded.

"_Oh. You again,"_ I grumbled through my teeth.

"_Yes, it's me again. But look at you, you can fight now. How will you beat me without your trainer?"_

With the inability to see Red, it would be difficult for me to battle Absol without guidance, but I figured I was more than strong enough to defeat her. My answer to her was a hiss and my ears flicked towards the room, straining to pick up any noise coming from the room where Red and Team Rocket were.

I heard another snapping noise and just as I fired the attack, I heard a woman's voice say, "Stop that!"

Absol jumped out of the way, allowing the Thunderbolt to strike the floor and left a darkened, singed spot on it then waited patiently for an order from the Shadow Member. She then boasted, _"You have to be faster than that, little Pikachu!"_

"_I'm faster than you, you overgrown fuzzball!"_ I retorted.

Her trainer, if I could call even him that, briefly turned his eyes over his shoulder to address Ghetsis next. "Lord Ghetsis, escape while you can. We shall delay these intruders as long as we can."

"Very well, I leave this to you." He turned around, walking calmly down the hall and disappeared around a corner.

"Yes, Lord Ghetsis." He flicked his eyes back to the hallway battle.

"Archer, sir? S-shouldn't we leave too?" asked a younger voice, full of nervousness.

"Yes. Get the car ready, we shall leave immediately."

"Absol, X-Scissor!" the third shadow member shouted, pointing towards me. I couldn't keep listening in on the conversation going on in the other room as I dodged one of Absol's X-Scissors and slammed an Iron Tail into her head, trying to knock her out. Once I'd gotten to a safe distance, I watched her get back up, though she seemed to be getting tired already as she began to pant.

"Absol, use Psycho Cut!"

Knowing Ghetsis was going to get away, I hissed and Absol dashed to me as fast as her tired legs could carry her, the crescent shaped horn glowing a dim purple. _"Take this!"_ she shouted, bringing the horn down.

I jumped back to try and avoid the attack but realized quickly she closed the gap just as quickly as she had initially rushed towards me and I was too slow to avoid this hit. I saw her smile when she realized she would finally land a hit as I thought to myself, _This is going to hurt_. Maybe when she got close enough I could do a point-blank Thunder—

"Mienshao! Aura Sphere!" White's voice cut through the hall and Absol looked up with surprise.

A bright blue orb flew above my head and slammed itself right into her pristine white fur, sending her flying into the Shadow Member guarding the way to the door. The man and pokemon were sent flying into the wall at the end of the hall and taking the chance, I dashed forward towards the open door on the right I had seen Ghetsis walk out of. I noticed Absol get back up _again_ and started to run for me, though she was simply knocked back down when Brendan ordered a Headbutt.

"_We'll take care of this, Pikachu, you go get Red,"_ Castform said, the little pokemon floating in the air in front of the angry, weakened Absol. He confidently charged a Blizzard as I ran inside the room with Mienshao and White; I knew Dawn and Rosa had taken over the battle in the living room judging by the shouting and crashing noises but I wasn't too worried about them at the moment.

A red-haired woman in a white suit smiled coldly at White, one hand on her hip and the other loosely hanging. "Good afternoon," she greeted us. Being the only female Rocket in an executive's outfit, I assumed this was Arianna and felt my fur bristle with electricity.

Behind her, I could see Archer sitting in a chair at the end of a rectangular table and beside him was Red, though he made no move to stand. Scanning him for any injuries, I spotted a split lip and bruise forming near it but I felt my own temper rise when I realized his wrists were bound to the chair with something silver, probably from a String Shot. I assumed he tried doing something stupid and they had to do something else about it.

White frowned at the sight but her eyes flicked back to Archer as the man stood from where he was sitting. "You came right on time to pick him up. I was just going to deliver him back to the stadium in a few short minutes," he informed her.

My eyes drifted back to Red as his almond shaped eyes narrowed with disbelief. It was clear they had been talking about something and he hadn't gotten what he'd wanted. Whatever it was, I was sure I'd get that cleared up eventually.

"Perhaps we can continue to discuss this later, Red. I'm sure you're in the mood to go back anyhow."

White gritted her teeth together and snapped, "I'm not letting you get away!"

"Would you rather I take him somewhere else then? Perhaps that way you would not be able to find us." Archer turned to her, clasping his hands behind his back calmly again.

Arianna laughed suddenly. "It's okay, little girl!" She patted Red's head as if he were a young child and ignored his glare. "He's the one who stopped us the first time, so we'll come back for him."

White looked even more infuriated than before as she readied herself for a battle. "You aren't going to come back at all! Mienshao!"

The fighting-type was in front of her in an instant and got into a defensive position. _"I won't let you go past here!"_ the shy pokemon declared.

Archer sighed loudly and shook his head. "This room is far too small for a battle and us all inside as well. Arianna, let's go. You three, keep her occupied. As for you, Red, you can stay here. We are finished for today. Good luck in the tournament, we shall be rooting for you and Ethan." He gave him a cold smile and wave as two goons stood in front of Mienshao, White and I while the last stood behind us.

Red bared his teeth in rage, his hands in fists as he yanked against the bonds. _"Archer!"_ he snapped sharply. I flinched at the tone; I hadn't heard him yell out of anger in a few years, so whatever that had been talking about before we arrived was clearly a touchy subject. White looked visibly startled to hear such a tone come from the normally composed trainer.

"We shall be in touch," was all Archer said as he and Arianna made their escape out of the room.

"You can't just leave!" Red shouted at them, trying to pull his arms free again.

"Ta-ta," Arianna said, winked and blew a kiss at him before disappearing out the door with Archer.

White shook herself free of the shock when the three goons released their pokemon: two Golbat and a Muk. I stood towards the two Golbat with Mienshao facing the Muk. _"This is a bad matchup for us,"_ I heard one of the Golbat say nervously but the other didn't reply, simply using Supersonic as soon as its trainer ordered it.

Red made a fist—or as good of one as he could make—and as soon as I used Slam against the Golbat to the left, one quick Thunderbolt and it was down. The other Golbat was disposed of just as quickly and looking over my shoulder, I saw that the Muk had fallen as well. White frowned as the three goons recalled their fallen pokemon and tried to run then pointed at them. "Mienshao! Stop them!"

Mienshao nodded and ran after the three. She rose her arm and her whip-like fur stretched forward and wrapped around the last grunt's leg, sending him toppling to the floor with a startled cry. His companions didn't stop to help him and I heard another pair of running feet going after them shortly. "Don't hurt me! Please!" he begged.

He gave a pathetic whimper as White stepped towards him. "I won't fall to your standards," she replied. "You're going to jail with your friends once we catch them."

The grunt pouted but said nothing as Mienshao retracted her fur from his leg to simply wrap it again around his wrists to lead him out to the living room. Once she was gone, White sighed with relief and ran right to Red, untying him and as soon as he stood up and rubbed his wrists, she threw her arms around him tightly while I jumped onto his shoulder and hugged his head. Red was caught off-guard but he managed a slight smile when he returned our hugs.

"You had me so worried!" White said to him and looked up at him as I remained on his shoulder. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"I'm fine," he simply replied and scratched my head. I couldn't help but make a pleasured noise when he did so.

White pulled away for a moment. "What did he say that made you so angry?"

Red was silent for a while. "…It's nothing."

"Nothing? I've never heard you shout before, and it doesn't seem like you. You know?"

My trainer sighed and looked at me as I watched him with worry. "It's… personal but I'll tell you later. Tonight."

She accepted the answer with a nod and gave him a sly smile as he stopped petting me. "You never returned it, you know."

It? At first I was just as confused as Red was but I caught on quicker than he did. His face deepened with a blush when he realized she was talking about the kiss she'd given him and finally he let her go, at a loss for words. I laughed at him but jumped off his shoulder, prepared to give them their first _proper_ kiss without me in the way. "I—"

"Red!" We all looked at the door when Rosa, Brendan and Dawn came in as well. Brendan reached into his pocket. "I have your pokemon," he told him and handed him six pokeballs.

Red visibly relaxed as he clipped my pokeball on his hip alongside the others. I looked at my pokeball for a moment before noticing Red look at Brendan with a silent, grateful nod.

"Ghetsis and the Shadow Triad got away," Dawn informed us with a frown.

"We caught one goon," White told the others.

Rosa tapped on the screen of her Xtranseiver as she read a message. "Nate says they beat Suicune and Proton," she told us. "Team Rocket got away with Suicune, though, and Colress' machine was destroyed by Mewtwo. They're headed back for the stadium now so we should go and meet them there."

As the other three walked out, Red held White back by taking her hand gently and nodded towards Rosa when she paused at the door. "Are you two coming?" she asked and Red held up a finger. With a smile, Rosa nodded, understanding whatever silent response he gave her. "Oh, I get it. Okay, just don't take too long; we'll meet you at the stadium." She then pushed the other two out despite their objections.

I tilted my head and glanced up at the remaining two trainers with curiosity. Finally when we heard the front door close, Red looked at White and let her go. "Why did you come?" he asked.

Where had _that_ come from? I was just as appalled as White's face looked. _"Huh?"_ I blurted.

"What do you mean why did I come? I came to rescue you, duh!" she said.

"You could have been seriously hurt."

She scoffed at him. "You could have been seriously hurt as well! We didn't even get a thank you! Arceus, Red, did you _let_ them take you or something?!"

Red remained silent as she took on a furious face, her temper rapidly rising. Now I could understand why others were so scared of her when she got angry but Red didn't back down as easily as her brother did.

"You did! What makes you think _none_ of us would have worried about you?"

He shook his head. "No time."

"'No time' bullshit! Do you think none of us care about you? Is that it?"

"No, I—"

"Do you not trust us enough to help you?"

"I do, but—"

She walked right up to him as he tried to explain why but she stopped him before he could with a sharp slap to his cheek. His face snapped to the side from shock and was silenced instantly as I briefly winced. That had to sting, but he deserved it.

"That's for making us worry, you stupid son of a bouffalant!"

Red's face immediately betrayed his guilt as he looked at her again. "Hilda, I—"

"Don't you 'Hilda' me!"

"But—"

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

"No—!"

"Shut up, Red!"

She made a move to slap him again and he even winced, preparing himself for the sharp sting he was sure to receive. Instead of that, however, White's cheeks turned pink as she grabbed the collar of his vest and yanked him so he was forced to bend over enough so she could plant her lips on his.

I sputtered a strange noise out of shock but couldn't tear my eyes away. Red's eyes had popped open out of surprise but obviously wasn't paying any attention to me by now as he fell into White's kiss and in moments, the two humans were in their own little world. I heard a light footstep and Mienshao was there, staring at the scene and smiled delightfully before looking at me. As stealthily as she could, she used that fur on her arm to whip it around me and yanked me out quickly. _"Hey! They're just getting to the good part!"_ I snapped though she put a finger against my mouth.

"_Shh!"_ she whispered once she'd pulled me out into the living room. _"We need to leave them alone!"_

"_Aren't you curious too?" _I replied just as quietly.

She bashfully looked towards the door behind us. _"Well… yes, a little bit."_

"_Then we can watch from the door!"_

Mienshao timidly looked at the door again and finally nodded. _"If we get caught, we'll be called perverts for the rest of our lives."_

I shrugged. _"I doubt those two would even care. Besides, you can tell your team what happened. Oh, I can't wait to see the look on Espeon's face! I saw White kiss Red _twice_ today!"_

She looked at me sharply. _"What? She kissed him? Twice?!"_

I nodded. _"The first time she just kissed his cheek before her battle and this is the second."_

"_Huh. She's gotten bold ever since meeting N."_ She snickered from behind her hand. _"Zebstrika will be disappointed she missed it as well."_

I smiled and peeked from the side of the doorway as Mienshao watched from above me. Red had pulled White close and was returning the kiss. It wasn't too long before they broke the kiss; the room was filled with silence until White said with guilt on her face, "Red, I—"

"I'm sorry," Red interrupted then smiled a little as he pointed to his cheek. "For making you worry."

She paused and finally smiled, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry for hitting you. It was a spur of the moment."

"Mm." He rubbed his cheek. "Well, it hurt."

"I take back that apology. You deserved it."

I laughed to myself. At least I wasn't the only one who thought the stupid human needed some sense knocked into him.

White hugged him again. "Come on, let's go before the others start to wonder where we're at. I'm sure they want to ask you questions, too."

Red sighed. "I know." I knew he was dreading having a conversation with Ethan, who had seen everything that had happened beforehand.

Mienshao and I were like giggling little schoolgirls when we followed our trainers as they walked hand-in-hand out of the dark house.

X-X-X

On the peak of Mount Silver, the days were short and the nights were long. It was one of the toughest roads to climb, but each trainer that had decided to make that dangerous trek knew why they were trying to climb that treacherous road: they wanted to challenge the champion of the mountain. My trainer was hardly ever in the public eye, not after all of the sudden fame he had acquired during our travels. While we were recognized champions, not everyone agreed that just anyone should be able to climb that mountain.

Mount Silver was known for people disappearing before we arrived. When Red had first told his mother, she fiercely objected to his rash decision but after realizing she could not stop him, she made him promise to call her at least once a week, even if it was only just to tell her he was still alive and well. We barely managed to get up to the top our first trip up but after multiple times over the years, it was easier and easier.

The mysterious disappearances also seemed to have stopped ever since we arrived. I learned it was because after we had ventured up, Red had asked the League to impose a rule for anyone wanting to climb up to challenge us or even to explore; it was far too dangerous for any trainer to even try scaling the mountain.

It was a pretty simple request, but my trainer asked for them to have Professor Oak issue a ticket to anyone with at least eight badges to be able to climb the mountain. The League increased it to sixteen and Red had no objections even if it meant he got less challengers because of the rule. There were lots of objections when people found out, but the reasonable trainers such as gym leaders and mature adults agreed with the decision.

There were a many trainers that had reached the top of the mountain and managed to challenge us, but there were only a notable few that had even caused us to go all-out.

One was a red-haired boy from Johto we had met, and although he had very similar pokemon type-wise, he was a quick thinker and was able to keep himself calm even when he was in trouble. He specialized in speed and attack and had even managed to knock out four of us before Snorlax and I defeated him. We never did catch his name as he silently waved back at us and made his way down the mountain.

Another was a girl with brown pigtails, Lyra. She had defeated Blastoise and even me with Meganium and although she used a team using defense, she lacked the strength to defeat Charizard and was a very determined girl from start to finish. She was a very outgoing person, even asking Red to join her on a shopping excursion in Goldenrod City. She was apparently close friends with Ethan, living in the same small town as he did and promised that Ethan would give us a hard time.

Sure enough, Ethan, the golden-eyed, Johto boy wonder, made his way up to the summit. There weren't many people with strange eye colors like my trainer, but that wasn't what caught my attention. It was obvious it was his first try up the mountain with how tired _he_ was, but Typhlosion seemed to be barely winded as he walked up beside his trainer. We were evenly matched in terms of power, and had it been anywhere else I was sure Red would have lost if the snowfall hadn't begun. He was one of the few who had gotten our blood pumping and excited for this battle, and through the entire thing, I was sure Ethan had felt the same way as he smiled the entire time from the thrill.

After only barely winning, we battled two other times and both times were just as difficult as the first—if not even more so—and even I think we only won due to luck. Occasionally he would change his team but usually stuck with the team he had brought with him to the tournament to battle us. He was a solid trainer as well, only had four losses according to him and all those losses were due to bad luck and while I had no clue about the fourth battle he had lost, the other three I knew were due to luck as well.

If this trend continued and if he wasn't so easily distracted or immature and annoying, I would willingly say that Ethan was the strongest trainer in the world.

X-X-X

We reached the stadium right in the middle of Ethan and Calem's battle, judging by the cheering and explosions that were going on. I could see Blue, Nate, Black and surprisingly Lance and Cynthia joining them as they stood near the entrance chatting with Rosa, Dawn and Brendan. I noticed Red and White had let go of each other's hands the moment they came into view of the others and had small smiles on their faces. Rolling my eyes, I ran forward with a loud, "Pika!" to catch the other's attentions.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Red nearly falter under Lance's scrutinizing gaze as if he knew he was going to be scolded for his stunt. "You are in so much trouble," White whispered to Red and snickered as he only sighed.

"You!" Blue went up to Red, jabbing a finger into his chest hard enough to make my trainer wince and rub the spot. "What in the hell were you _thinking_?" His eyes landed on the split lip. "What happened to your face?"

Red pointed to his lip. "Angry goons."

"Do you realize you could have really been injured?"

Red let out an annoyed sigh. "Yes."

"And you still went? How would fight back?"

"Couldn't."

Blue stared at him in disbelief. "You couldn't? Why not?" His eyes narrowed with suspicion when Red didn't answer. "You owe us an explanation."

Red reached into his jacket and smiled a little as he held something small in his hand. My eyes widened when I saw it was the little switch Archer had been holding before. How in Arceus' name did he get his sticky little hands on that? "This."

Blue looked confused when he saw it as the others approached us. "What's this?"

"Looks like a detonator," Lance said as he stood beside Blue.

Red looked up at him and nodded.

The dragon master didn't seem to approve but he accepted the explanation as he took the device gingerly and placed it inside of his cloak. "Well, I see how Archer convinced you to go with him now."

"What about the bombs?" Nate asked. Honestly, I'd almost forgotten about them. "Did you two find any?"

"Three," Cynthia replied. "We got rid of them, so you don't have to worry about that." She turned to the others. "You should all go watch the matches, Lance and I will take care of this. Do not tell anyone else about this, understand?"

We all nodded. We all knew better than to cause a panic among thousands of people, it would just end up completely chaotic for everyone. Lance looked towards Red and I as she came to stand beside the dragon master. "Red, I want to talk to you later tonight. Meet me in the dining hall at nine tonight," he ordered. He wasn't giving us any leeway for excuses when he added, "If you're late, call me. Got it?" His face told us that if we didn't obey, he'd come looking for us anyway.

Red nodded and sighed with relief when he was gone.

"What was that about?" White asked him.

"He's over protective is all," Blue told her.

"Clingy. Annoying," Red mumbled.

I smiled at Red, knowing he'd already explained that to Mew before.

Rosa giggled but pointed to the door. "Let's go inside and watch the rest of the match. I'm sure Ethan's worried," she said and led the way in the stadium.

I jumped up onto Red's shoulder as he started to walk with the others inside of the building with White and Red were the last to join them. Brendan and Dawn went the other way, saying something about telling Ethan what happened and about meeting Serena on the other side while White looked up at Red and whispered, "So… what does this make us?"

Red looked at her and then ahead as we reached the stairs, following Blue and the others. "What does what make us?" he asked, as innocently as he could muster. I could see that mischievous glint in his eyes and it was clear White could as well as she scowled.

"You know what I mean!"

Black blinked from ahead of us and looked back at us. "What are you two talking about?" he asked loudly, grinning as the others also looked at the last two to enter the box.

"Shut up, Black!" White snapped instead.

"Wait, I want to hear," Nate said with a curious glint in his eyes and sat in one of the seats.

"What _are_ you two lovebirds talking about?" Blue grinned as both Red and White turned pink.

"We're not—" Red started.

"Don't tell me you already…" Rosa gasped with a bright smile. "Did you two actually—?" She stopped herself as her smile grew. "You finally admitted it to each other?"

"No!" White snapped. "Nothing happened!"

I nodded from Red's shoulder. _"They actually kissed this time!"_ I told them, fully well knowing they wouldn't understand.

"Pikachu!" Red hissed in my ear when he caught my nodding and I laughed at his blushing, embarrassed face. Now I couldn't wait to see what his mother would say.

Black crossed his arms across his chest. "You two are horrible liars," he told them as I nodded with agreement. "So, you two actually hooked up? It's not like you can hide it."

White mumbled something under her breath and satisfied by their reactions, the three boys laughed as Rosa looked like she could explode from the excitement.

"It's like love at first sight, you only hear about it in the stories, huh?" Rosa said.

"Technically it wasn't," Blue told her.

White blinked. "What do you mean?" she asked curiously.

"Well, when we first got here and before we met everyone, we went to the library to see who all the champions were and their win streaks, stuff like that," Blue explained and sat down in a chair. "Noticed you and Black had colors for names and your picture came up too. So that was technically the first time he's ever seen you."

Nate laughed as Red rolled his eyes. "That doesn't count," he mumbled before he took a seat beside White and turned his head to the field to pay attention to the match being held below.

I then turned my attention to the field as well and whatever happy feeling I had just held was replace with astonishment matching Red's when I saw the screen showing off the two champion's pokemon team and statuses.

Ethan was losing.

X-X-X


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** So, I know Pangoro is genderless, but like Mew and other legendaries, I gave it a gender for story reasons. Enjoy!

**Pokefan02:** Read on and you'll see why Ethan's losing :D Espeon will get another spotlight shortly, along with Venusaur and Snorlax.

**LEGAL-EAGLE53: **Sorry, I re-read my A/N and changed it. It was confusing, but no, this is definitely not the end. There's a lot more to go and Mienshao is female. As for Buster, it's just whatever pops into my head kind of thing. I'll probably write another chapter of it soon, I've been getting plot bunnies lol.

* * *

_16_

_Pikachu_

Trainers and their pokemon need to have some form of trust between the two no matter what, otherwise the team could face public embarrassment and humility. The trainer guides their pokemon in a battle, they are their second set of eyes, sense of smell and hearing while the pokemon the strength of their attack based on the current situation and help think of a strategy to defeat their opponent. In a battle, both parts of the party need to respond to each other's actions with lightning fast reactions if they want to win and take home the promised glory.

Other than the fame and fortune the team received, the experience gathered from battling or the trust and love between all seven, pokemon battling is a sport loved by both humans and pokemon. There are major tournaments held all over the world, at least eight gyms in every region and even those who didn't battle for a living had the occasional fun sparring with a neighbor. It is a chance to show off their abilities and prowess from as few as two people to thousands of cheering spectators.

The bigger the battle, the more attention it received and stronger moves could be used without _serious_ damage (it was very rare to have a serious injury on the field, there is always a Chansey and Nurse Joy hiding nearby when a hyper potion or max revive won't do the trick). However, any and all mistakes would be seen and judged accordingly. Of course this meant if there was a bigger crowd, there would be many upset spectators and criticize everything the trainers and pokemon do. This match was no exception.

When we looked onto the field, the scoreboard showed off that Calem had two of his pokemon knocked out, but Ethan was currently on number five and rapidly moving onto number six. I knew how distracted the boy could get, how easily his mind could run on a one-way track without any intention of stopping but I didn't know he could be losing this badly against someone using a fox holding a _stick_ of all things. I figured he was only distracted because his mind was stuck on the morning's events and I was probably right judging by the serious look in the Johto boy's eyes.

As Red and I fought to get over our shock, the others were watching the two pokemon on the field exchange blows and struggle to overpower each other. "Who is that kid?" I heard Nate ask from behind us.

"He's just as old as us, he isn't a kid," White replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Calem, he's from Kalos, don't you remember that greeting from the first day?" Black answered.

Nate shook his head. "No, my memory is one that holds little information."

"Don't we all know."

"Shut up, Black."

"Well, that 'kid' is crushing Ethan," Rosa interrupted. "He must be really strong."

Blue sat up, scanning the match with a knowing look. "Ethan is stronger than this," he said quietly and earned confused looks from the other trainers. Realizing he'd been heard, he sighed and leaned forward with his elbows propped onto his knees and rested his head on his hands. "Back in Viridian City when he battled me for the Earth Badge, he wiped my team with just _two_ pokemon." He paused, his green eyes never moving form Ethan. "He had a different look on his face that day, though."

"A different look?" White asked.

"Yes. He gets a very distinct look in his eyes, they look like they're glowing if the lighting is right and he usually smiles when he battles."

"Do you have a man crush on him?" Nate teased with a grin.

I glanced up at Red. His eyes hadn't removed themselves from Ethan either even as the trainer ordered a Power Gem from Ampharos.

Blue rolled his eyes at Nate, finally sitting back up and looked at the other trainers. "No." He then turned back to the field. "He doesn't look like he is focusing or thinking. Out of a battle he is annoying and likes to draw attention to himself and he talks too much, but during a battle he's usually calculating, quiet and quick to change from a status move to an attack. His favorite thing to do is lure a pokemon close enough to grab and sneak in an overpowered move out of nowhere and surprise everyone with a one-hit K.O. Ethan is strong and he is the only one that I have seen that has gone toe-to-toe with Red and nearly won, too. I honestly don't know who's the stronger of the two," Blue admitted.

Rosa smiled. "Well, even though Nate and I are out, hopefully Ethan can win and we can see a match like that!"

"He'll find a way out of this," White said confidently. "If he's as good as you say he is, then two versus four shouldn't be a problem."

Blue shrugged then looked at Red and I. "It's obvious he's still upset."

"Upset about what?" Nate asked curiously.

"You guys didn't piss him off, did you?" Black accused.

"It wasn't my fault!" Blue retorted.

We were silent for a moment and watched as the fire fox used Psychic to stop the Power Gem from hitting it and I glanced towards White as she sighed loudly. "He saw Archer take Red away," she softly replied and Red only nodded once with a guilty look in his eyes. "That would make anyone upset, especially if you were told to stay here."

I tapped my paw against my arm. There had to be some way to get Ethan's head back in the game. If Ethan lost here, people would begin to doubt his strength and if people doubted his, they'd begin to doubt Johto's gym leaders, which would move onto Kanto's gyms and eventually ours and I certainly couldn't let that happen.

Now, I'm sure Blastoise and Snorlax wouldn't care as much as I did, but it would affect the team morale. I shook my head. I was beginning to sound like Venusaur.

But how could we help Ethan? I glanced at the scoreboard again towards the four black and white pictures. Ethan had already lost Scizor, Ursaring, Togetic and Sudowoodo. Ampharos was getting tired already and Typhlosion would have a difficult time against Delphox and I turned my eyes back to Calem's side. There were pictures of three pokemon, Delphox that was in color, and the other two that looked like another form of Eevee and a blue frog in black and white. I knew something had to be done.

We could cheer all we wanted, but I doubt he'd be able to hear us however our side of the field was getting sort of quiet because of the murmuring among the crowd, beginning to doubt Ethan's strength and wondering if Calem was stronger than him. Clearly, they weren't expecting the Johto champion to be failing this much. With the dwindling cheering on our side though, Ethan just might hear us if Red was loud enough.

My tapping stopped and I looked up, staring at Red until he noticed and finally tore his eyes off of Ethan to look at me. My thoughts were full of various different things Red could do to make himself heard and when he finally noticed I was staring at him, Red looked a bit anxious as my silence stretched on and I didn't make a move. He finally blinked once, twice and by the third one, I rose a paw and pointed to Ethan. _"Red, go cheer for him right now,"_ I told him.

Red looked confused. His face betrayed the simple, _'Huh?'_

I sighed and jumped on the floor, causing the rest of the trainers to look at me as well. "What's he doing?" Blue asked and Red shrugged.

"_Cheer for him! No matter how much you talk about how he's super strong and whatever, he's currently _losing_ so you gotta cheer for him! Now!"_

Black and White looked at each other. "Do you speak pokemon?" White asked.

I huffed at them and finally jumped up and down, smiling and shouting but it was clear the humans still didn't understand, each with a blank look and a couple of confused questions between them. I groaned. Guess I'd better go show them how it's done. I ran up to the railing, precariously balancing on it as I stood on my hind legs and cupped my little paws around my mouth and one deep breath later, I screamed at the top of my lungs, _"Go Ethan! You can do it!"_

I turned my head around when I was finished and I was relieved when I saw the imaginary lightbulb above the trainer's heads light up. "Oh! You want Red to cheer for Ethan?" Rosa asked innocently.

"_Yes! Finally, Arceus, you all need to learn how to understand so we don't have to play charades!"_ I looked at Red as he looked immediately nervous and sank lower into his seat. _"Red! Don't get pidgey feet now, you just shouted not even an hour ago! Ethan won't care if anyone else cheers, but he'll definitely pay attention if he sees you're okay!"_

Red was silent for a little bit and as if he could understand me, he shook his head. "…I don't cheer," he deadpanned.

Blue groaned. "Red, this really isn't a match if one of the opponents isn't even paying attention," he told him.

Red looked up as the brunette stood in front of him.

"Now I don't give a damn if you think you can't cheer, you've yelled at me before and when we were kids, we cheered at the T.V. whenever a battle was playing." He pointed towards the arena. "Ethan is way too worried about you, worried enough that it's affecting his battle. If he sees you right now, that you're safe and sound, then he'll get his head back in the game and at least put up _some_ kind of fight against Calem and if he loses, he can go down a warrior instead of some distracted kid who can't hold his own against a Delphox." I glanced at the stick-holding fire-type as it snarled and fired a Psychic attack. "Maybe he was expecting something awesome from Ethan. Calem looks really bored." He grinned and held out his hand for him to take to help him up. "Besides, you can't let your rival go down that easily—"

White smiled and nodded, leaning forward in her seat to look at Red. "We'll help you cheer if you want—"

"But you have to go first!" Rosa said excitedly.

"What if _I _don't wanna cheer?" Black asked dejectedly from his seat.

"You'll do it anyway, it's called 'teamwork.' Maybe you've heard of it," Nate told him.

Red looked between them all and I grinned at him, making sure to stay balanced on the metal railing. Finally he sighed and took Blue's outstretched hand and stood up with his help. He brushed imaginary dust off of his pants and watched the match for a few seconds.

For a moment, I was afraid he'd simply chicken out and sit back down but instead, he slowly blinked and before he took a step forward, he looked at the other trainers and was silent for a full ten seconds. "What am I supposed to say?" he asked.

Black smacked his face with his hand and Nate started laughing with his sister, who held her sides as she doubled over. "Arceus, Red, you're so clueless sometimes," Blue mumbled after a sigh.

"Anything that comes to mind. Just catch his attention somehow," White told him. "If you feel uncomfortable, just shout his name and makes sure he hears it." She laughed and grinned. "I've heard you shout. You can make yourself heard."

"Besides, the crowd right below us will go nuts if you shout," Nate added and wiped his eye. "Can't believe you don't know how to cheer, oh man."

"And because of that, it'll raise their spirits and start cheering for Ethan too," Black told us.

I hadn't thought of that and I bobbed my head up and down. I looked back at the match and quickly said, _"Hurry up, Red! Ethan only has two more pokemon!"_

White gave Red a small push towards me and when he reached the railing, he glanced at me as I nodded. I looked at Ethan as he ordered Ampharos to dodge a Fire Blast but when people right below us began to whisper, I blinked and squinted back up at Red as he grabbed the rail with both hands and inhaled deeply. "Ethan!" he yelled.

There was a brief moment of silence around us and the spectators looked up at the box towards us two, but Red was successfully ignoring them. His voice seemed to reach the trainer when he froze and finally Ethan turned his head upwards towards the box. I saw Ethan's eyes widen ever so slightly out of surprise and I smiled as I waved. He _so_ owed us for this one. Even though I couldn't hear him, I could see Ethan's mouth move, saying Red's name under his breath out of shock. He looked suddenly relieved as well, his shoulders slacked a bit and Ampharos seemed to take notice, glancing up as well and then smiled as she returned her attention back to Delphox.

"_Ethan! Do it!"_ Red shouted again and I heard Rosa giggling under her breath from behind us with, "It's a cheer, not one I'd go for, but it works, I guess."

Below us, I could hear a couple of excited cheers and other people whispering to each other and pointing up at us. Among the cheering, I could hear some of the people say, _"Wow, that's Red!" "I thought he couldn't talk." "Look at his Pikachu!" "He's rooting for Ethan?"_

I glanced behind us as Blue smirked and smacked Red's back once. "See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" he taunted and ignored Red's annoyed glare. Then he looked back at the field and cupped one hand around his mouth. "Bragging rights if you lose, Ethan!" he bellowed.

Finally the Johto champion smiled and nodded, his eyes lighting up with a fire that Calem seemed to notice as Ethan turned back around. As the cheering grew suddenly, the Kalos trainer looked abruptly nervous as he spotted the look as well and Delphox looked up at him with a single nod.

Ethan was silent for a bit before he looked at Ampharos. "Ampharos, back up, use Light Screen then Charge!" he ordered.

Ampharos jumped back near Ethan and obeyed. A dim flash of pink light surrounded her and faded just as the gem on her head sparked and faded just as quickly as the screen did, the invisible barrier still there.

Calem frowned with a bit of confusion, as if he wasn't used to the sudden change of pace. "Delphox, Ampharos is almost down! Use Fire Blast again!"

Delphox nodded and fired the attack as fast as he could. Just before it hit, Ampharos dodged left and used Cotton Guard, the command given during the explosion from the missed attack.

Ethan smiled, now looking more determined than when we had seen him when we walked in. "Now, use Charge Beam!"

Red gave a sigh of brief relief and let go of the railing and went back to the seats as Ampharos landed the attack. As soon as he sat down, White looked up at him. "Feel better now that it's over?" she asked.

He nodded, sliding into the seat until the back of the chair was used as his pillow.

"Good."

Blue stretched as he sat back down as well. "Now this should be a battle and not a slaughter. Calem's going to start messing up, he didn't expect Ethan to rebound quickly." He laughed to himself. "Lyra would give Ethan a hard time if she found out he lost and if she found out—Arceus, I'd rather chop off my ears than listen to her yell at me about letting him lose."

Red blinked a few times in silence before looking at Blue again. "You would still be able to hear," he bluntly told him.

I rolled my eyes at my dull trainer as Black laughed. "It's a metaphor, Red. Don't take everything so literally."

Red looked at the arena, watching as Ampharos used Confuse Ray. Calem leaned over the railing as Delphox grew immediately dizzy and confused. "Delphox! Snap out of it!" he shouted. "Fire Blast!"

Ethan grinned. "Ampharos, use Thunder!"

Ampharos cried out as she sent the powerful attack and Delphox screeched in pain before finally it fell over, fainted from the sheer force. Ethan held a thumbs-up to her and Ampharos did her best to mimic him as Calem returned Delphox, looking quite startled by the turn of events just as much as the announcer as he babbled on about how strong both pokemon were.

Finally the announcer ended with, _"Champion Ethan is catching up! Have we not seen his true strength yet?"_

Calem grabbed his third pokeball. "Go, Heliolisk!"

As the lizard appeared, its frill flared for a moment before it retracted with a loud, "Lisk!"

"_Champion Calem has chosen Heliolisk, the Generator Pokemon! Who will electrify each other first?"_ the announcer all but shouted.

"Ampharos, Cotton Spore! Slow it down!"

"Heliolisk, Double Team!"

As the two status moves were used against each other, I could see Heliolisk sneezing from the Cotton Spore and Ampharos ran forward with an arm raised. "Fire Punch, Ampharos!"

Her fist slammed into the old lizard's face, snapping his face into the ground and he yelped with surprise. _"Oh, my! You don't hit like a girl at all!"_ I heard him say.

Ampharos grinned. _"It's not against the rules,"_ she replied. _"Besides, I'm not supposed to, lizard breath!"_

Heliolisk looked like he'd been slapped again and sputtered, _"How rude! So completely un-lady like!"_

"_Takes one to know one!"_

"_Why, I never—!"_

"Heliolisk, now! Mud Slap!" Calem smiled as the mud slammed into Ampharos and forced her back, swiping mud from her face. "Now Bulldoze!"

Ethan was quick to retaliate with, "Magnet Rise!" He smiled when the ground-type move did no harm. "Get closer to Heliolisk!"

"What's he planning?" Nate asked.

Blue shrugged. "I don't know, but like I mentioned before, he does this to his opponents. Usually, it'll end badly on the opponent's side but rarely will it affect his pokemon. He takes risks, and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. We'll just have to wait and see what this one does."

Calem frowned. "Heliolisk, stay away from Ampharos!" he told the other electric type.

Heliolisk did his best and I saw Ampharos use Fire Punch again, this time hard enough to knock him to the ground. "Now! Focus Blast!" Ethan shouted.

"Heliolisk!" Calem yelled. "Get away—!"

The resounding explosion told us Heliolisk was too slow to avoid the attack. Then when I looked at Ethan, I noticed he was pocketing his pokedex. I blinked curiously and looked over, seeing that White was doing the same thing. "Heliolisk is an electric- and normal-type. Good thing Ampharos knows Focus Blast," she said.

"And Brick Break. It's really annoying, actually," Blue added.

When we saw that Heliolisk had fainted already, I winced slightly from the sudden cheering over the announcer saying, _"Heliolisk is unable to battle! Ampharos wins!"_

Calem looked shocked as he returned Heliolisk and Ethan smirked as Ampharos returned to their side, roaring in victory. She was the type of pokemon who lived off the thrill of battle, and despite how tired she was, I knew she only fought harder because she didn't like to lose.

The announcer also seemed to be amazed and excited as the cheering crowd was. _"The two are now tied! Which pokemon will Calem choose now?"_

I blinked, seeing Calem's eyes narrow, clearly getting serious again as he stole a glance at the pokeballs on his waist. It was possible he had no idea which one to choose but he then smirked, taking another pokeball. "Go, Pangoro!"

The black and white bear appeared, roaring loudly and once it was done, it chewed a bit on the leaf as it stared at Ampharos. _"This looks like it's going to be fun,"_ said a hoarse, low-pitched voice.

Pangoro got into a fighting stance as the announcer cried, _"Pangoro, the Daunting Pokemon, has arrived!"_

I could see Ampharos was panting but it didn't seem like she cared, looking more excited than I'd seen her in a while. _"We can still win this, Ethan!"_ she said to her trainer, smiling up at him and he blinked, then gave her another thumbs-up. I swear, we needed to invent translators or something for trainers and their pokemon.

"Pangoro, use Work Up!"

"Thunder Wave!" In the middle of the Work Up, Ampharos paralyzed him but Pangoro didn't seem to care, trying to flex his arms to keep the paralysis from affecting him too much. "Ampharos, use another Cotton Guard."

"Pangoro, use Hammer Arm!" Ampharos was in the middle of Cotton Guard and squeaked when she was hit, slamming into the protective wall in the arena. I winced when she coughed and stood back up. That really had to hurt.

"Ampharos! You okay?" Ethan shouted and the electric-type nodded. "Good, use Thunderbolt!"

Pangoro gritted his teeth together and once it was done, he let out a low breath of relief. "Pangoro, use Focus Blast!"

"You too, Ampharos! Focus Blast!"

The two pokemon charged the special attack and shouted as they fired it, shouting as the two attacks simply crashed in the middle and sent dust flying everywhere. Calem held onto his hat so it wouldn't fly off and Ethan's stayed in place though he covered his eyes with his arms. When the dust faded, both pokemon were still standing though Ampharos looked exhausted while Pangoro was struggling against the paralysis. "Confuse Ray, Ampharos!"

Calem frowned as the fighting bear was immediately confused, though he told him, "Pangoro! Try using another Hammer Arm!"

Pangoro's arm rose and though he was slower this time, the attack still landed though Ampharos' grin was just like Ethan's just as she was hit. "Now, Ampharos!" he shouted.

Ampharos shouted and fired a final Focus Blast, sending both pokemon flying into the opposite sides of the wall again. They both struggled to get up but Ampharos winced and finally collapsed as Pangoro shakily stood back up. "Oh, I see. That's a risk that failed," Nate stated.

Rosa shook her head. "Not really, Ethan weakened Pangoro quite a bit," she stated. "One little scratch should knock it out now. Plus it's confused, so maybe it'll knock itself out and even if it gets past the confusion, it's also paralyzed."

"Ethan and his damn status effects," Blue muttered under his breath.

"_Champion Ethan is now on his sixth and last pokemon while Champion Calem still has two remaining!"_

Ethan took his final pokeball with confidence and tossed it out. "It's up to you now, Typhlosion! Light 'em up!"

Typhlosion appeared on its two hind legs with fire exploding from his back and roared at the tired, paralyzed and confused Pangoro. Typhlosion grinned when he saw this, knowing he would win this battle easily. Calem gritted his teeth, knowing this as well. "Pangoro, try using another Hammer Arm!" he shouted.

I blinked when Pangoro decided to remain where he was, the light sparks flying from his fur. "No! Pangoro, please, move!"

Ethan smirked. "Typhlosion, knock Pangoro out with Flame Charge!"

"Pangoro!"

Typhlosion coated itself in fire and ran at Pangoro on all fours, tackling into him with a snarl. He jumped away and Pangoro stayed down, fainted. _"Pangoro has fainted! Typhlosion wins!"_

Calem sighed but he smiled, tossing his final pokemon. What came out was a very familiar pokemon, and I blinked as a Charizard appeared, roaring so unlike the Charizard I know. This one was female and had a slightly lighter set of scales but this Charizard seemed like she thrived on battling and gave off an aggressive snarl as she remained on two legs.

The cheering increased, a blend of 'Calem' and 'Ethan' echoing through the stands. It was a close match and between two fire-type starters, I didn't know who would win. While Charizard had an advantage of having wings, Typhlosion has fought my Charizard more than once, so he should know what to do if there is an airborne pokemon attacking him.

"_The final pokemon on both sides! Charizard versus Typhlosion, a battle between the starters of Kanto and Johto! Who will win and who will be left in the ashes?"_

I groaned and saw both Red and Blue make a face. The announcer's question sounded something like Blaine would say.

Calem smiled as he looked at Ethan. "No one's ever gotten me to my last pokemon so quickly before," he told him.

Ethan shrugged. "Well, there's a first time for everything," he replied simply.

The Kalos trainer grinned. "Same with you." He held up his arm. "Charizard! Let's do this!" I squinted slightly when the bracelet on his arm glowed the same color as the gem on Charizard's neck and I was completely fascinated with the mega-evolved Charizard. She roared once the transformation was completed and I saw Ethan look almost nervous now at the fiercer opponent. I would be too. This Charizard still had the basic look of the fire lizard, but she now had wings on her arms as well as three spikes on the end of her tail as well as a single, longer horn on her head.

"_Now you get to deal with me. You probably won't last too long against me. I'll bet five minutes max and it'll be game set,"_ Charizard taunted Typhlosion.

If it was one thing I knew from experience, it was to never taunt Typhlosion. Taunting him only encouraged him to try harder and resulted in stronger and more painful attacks. He stared at Charizard like she had something on her face and finally narrowed his eyes, growling low in his throat. _"We'll see about that,"_ he retorted.

Calem pointed at Typhlosion. "Charizard, get in the air! Dragon Rage!"

Charizard jumped up into the air and fired so fast, even I was shocked at how quick she was. Typhlosion yelled with surprise and pain but she seemed genuinely astounded that he was still standing and she bared her teeth, realizing that this was a tough opponent.

Ethan grinned, pointing up. "Our turn. Typhlosion, use Rock Tomb! Slow Charizard down!"

Charizard was struggling to dodge the rocks and roared as one hit her back, sending her crashing back into the ground. "Charizard! Get out of there! Flare Blitz!"

I saw Ethan say something under his breath to Typhlosion, though what he said, I'm not sure. As Charizard came barreling closer as fast as a bullet, he snapped his fingers. "Now! Wild Charge!"

Blue smiled as Red made a face with the snap. "He's copying you, now," he said with a laugh.

Typhlosion and Charizard tackled into each other and while both yelled and were blasted away from each other, I could see Charizard take more damage than Typhlosion. Unfortunately she wasn't paralyzed, Ethan had probably hoped for that when his mouth was a thin line as she got back up, this time on all fours just like Typhlosion.

"Get up close with Shadow Claw, Charizard!" Calem shouted.

"You too, Typhlosion! Shadow Claw!"

The two pokemon were exchanging blows with each other, neither one of them giving up until Calem told Charizard to get up high in the air so Typhlosion couldn't reach her. "Charizard! Wing Attack!"

She dove, her wings glowing brilliantly and caught Typhlosion in his stomach hard enough to send him flying into the stands. Luckily, the spectators scrambled out of the way before he slammed into the benches and when he got up, he seemed to be profusely apologizing and leaped back onto the field and Calem winced. "S-Sorry!" he told the annoyed spectators as they returned to their seats.

Charizard snorted at Calem. _"Don't be sorry, you apologetic trainer!"_ She then dove back down to attack Typhlosion again with another Wing Attack.

"Typhlosion, grab onto her wings with Shadow Claw!" Ethan ordered.

As she got close enough, Typhlosion jumped up and grabbed her wing, causing her to yelp and struggle to stay in the air. "Charizard, shake Typhlosion off!" Calem cried as they got higher up into the air. "Fire Spin!"

Charizard span rapidly in many directions, coating them both in Fire Spin. I strained my neck upwards and finally noticed Ethan smiling. "Typhlosion! Use Eruption!"

Calem's eyes widened as Charizard roared in pain and started to fall back towards the ground. Bits of the Eruption landed on the ground, scorching the broken ground so far below the falling couple. "Charizard!"

Ethan didn't panic, instead shouting, "Typhlosion, Rollout! Knock Charizard out!"

Typhlosion jumped up and grinned at Charizard as she winced, trying to catch herself. _"Those five minutes were great,"_ he said to her and curled up into a ball, soon looking like he was a giant rock and slammed himself into her. _"But I'm afraid—"_

She roared as she hit the ground, the giant dust cloud obscuring view. Typhlosion bounced back into the air just after she landed and seeing that she was getting up again, he fell back on top of her to keep her down and finally landed on all four paws in front of Ethan, out of breath. He took a deep breath and stood back on his two back paws. _"You lose."_

Charizard seemed to hesitate as she shook and managed to lift her head. She growled tiredly and managed to say to him, _"First time… for everything."_ She finally winced and her head fell back to the ground, turning back to normal with a glow that enveloped her like before.

"_Charizard has fainted! What a turnout that was!"_

I saw Typhlosion breathe a sigh of relief and smiled as Ethan leaped down from where he was and hugged him tightly. Calem looked shocked and watched the fallen Charizard with a disappointed frown before he recalled her. _"It was a close call for both sides, what an amazing comeback! Champion Ethan has defeated Champion Calem with one-to-zero in a battle of fire and flames! He will move on with the others who have pushed through to the next round!"_

I sighed with relief and looked up as Red seemed to relax as well and watched as Ethan recalled Typhlosion, shook his hand and ran off, leaving Calem to blink, startled by his reaction. I felt Red pick me up and continued to carry me as he made his way to the door. "Are you gonna go see Ethan?" White asked curiously.

Red nodded.

"I'll go with you."

"We'll be here," Blue said and waved lazily at us.

White got up, following Red out the door. I glanced at them, seeing White look up at him as the door closed behind us. "So, now that we're alone again, I'll ask again. What are we now?"

Red glanced at her and then ahead as they descended the stairs. I squirmed out of his arms, deciding to follow behind eagerly. "Well, I would say we are a…" He paused, clearly struggling to say the words he wanted to. "I think we are… we're…"

White looked at him expectantly and once they were on the second floor, she took his hand to stop him from going down the last flight of stairs. "Is it really that hard to say it?"

He crossed his arms. "Let's see you try."

She grinned and put her hands on her hips. "I can say it! I'm not afraid to say anything, either."

He rose a brow. "You're stalling."

"Am not!" She coughed once to clear her throat. "We're a cou—" She stopped herself, her face suddenly growing pink. "We're a…"

When she fell silent, he beamed triumphantly. "Aha. See, not so easy, is it?"

She huffed indifferently. "I can say it!"

He shrugged. "We'll work on it."

She smiled and nodded, both of them heading down the last set of stairs. "So, do you think we'll have time to finally go on a date? Oh! I know!"

Red blinked.

"We can go to the beach! Just you and me, and maybe bring a dinner?" She smiled. "A picnic at night on the beach."

He nodded. "How about tonight then? Lance can wait, he won't know where we are." And to be quite frank, neither of us really care about him wanting to talk to us tonight.

White giggled. "Let's do it then! Tonight!"

Red smiled again and took her hand, causing her face to turn pink as he led the way downstairs. I watched them go downstairs and soon after, we stopped at the hall that led to the infamous waiting rooms. It wasn't even a full minute until Ethan came running up, smiling brightly as he jumped and tackled into Red then knocked them both to the ground. "Red! You're okay!" He hugged him tightly.

My trainer looked completely uncomfortable but he awkwardly patted his back and White helped them both back up. "Yup, he's fine," she told Ethan.

Ethan looked over Red. "But how? I mean, I thought Archer was going to... well, you know. Kill you. He looked like he intended to when you got your stupid ass into that car!"

I nodded and looked up at Red as he pointed to White.

Ethan was confused for a second but he looked at the girl. "You saved him?"

"Well, it wasn't just me. Brendan, Rosa and Dawn came too. Blue, Black and Nate were fighting Team Rocket in Clay Tunnel as we got Red." She crossed her arms. "We haven't asked about the details of what happened there yet, though. I was going to ask them later, but it's already been such an eventful day."

Ethan blinked. "What did I miss?"

"More than you know."

He finally shrugged and started to lead the way to the stairs. "It'll be even more eventful for you now, then."

We looked at him curiously as we followed him back up.

Ethan glanced back when we were all silent. "The next match, Alder versus Wallace. It's been canceled."

"Canceled?" White asked.

Red tilted his head slightly. "Why?"

Ethan shook his head. "Beats me. Lance was in the waiting room just now and said he was going to tell me tonight, I don't know the details but obviously something happened."

Red made a face and looked at White with a disappointed look that she shared. "Do we have to?" she whined.

Ethan laughed. "Well, you don't. I know he told me to go. Not sure if he told Blue or not. Clearly he told Red, otherwise he wouldn't be making that face."

I snickered at Red as well. _"Come on, Red, Lance isn't that bad."_

White rubbed her head as we stopped at the second floor again. "Well, we can go now if you want, Red. Ethan can go and tell the others where we went."

"Wait, go where?" Ethan demanded. "Where are you going? Can I come?"

"We're going to do something together." She blushed. "Alone."

The Johto native looked between the two of them before grinning mischievously as he took a relaxed pose, rubbing his chin with one hand and the other arm crossed over his chest. "Oooh, I see. Date night?" He laughed as White started to sputter, trying to hide her blush. "Well, whatever. We could all see you two were getting all bow-chika with each other." He leaned forward. "Have you two done anything in a bedroom yet?"

"_Ethan!"_ White cried over his laughter as my trainer's face turned a bright shade of red.

"I take that as a no, but there's plenty of things for you to try and lots of time to—ow!" She had smacked his head even as he continued to laugh. It wasn't long before he wiped his eyes and looked at Red. "In all seriousness, I'm glad you're okay. Thanks, too."

Red blinked. "For what?"

He smiled, giving him a thumbs-up. "For cheering me on! You and Blue!" He started up the stairs and waved. "You two lovebirds have fun! Don't get into trouble again!"

"Shut up, Ethan!" White shouted after him.

Ethan just laughed all the way up to the third floor.

X-X-X

It was five-thirty in the afternoon when White and Red were on the beach in the private little cove we regularly stopped by. They had decided to skip the match with Cynthia and Iris, favoring being alone with each other instead and stopped by Flapjack Central for their meal.

The two were talking to each other as I tried to make a sand castle to the best of my ability, only for it to collapse under Mienshao's sudden weight. She squeaked and profusely apologized as my cheeks sparked madly and I could briefly hear Mandibuzz laughing from above us.

The trainers had let us all out and we had the sense to leave them alone even if Blastoise had to keep a close eye on Espeon, often having to distract her from staring at them for more than a few minutes by throwing her into the ocean water. Most of the pokemon were napping, such as Snorlax, Stoutland, Zebstrika and Venusaur. Mandibuzz was constantly bickering with Mienshao while Blastoise and Espeon seemed to be doing the same. Charizard, Reunclius, Serperior and I seemed to be the only ones minding our own business to the best of our abilities.

After a bit, Espeon came to sit next to me, her eyes glued on the two trainers again. _"Those two have gotten oddly close with each other,"_ she told me. She finally glanced at me. _"Did something happen that I'm not aware of?"_

I flashed a grin at her. _"White kissed Red on the cheek at the stadium and after we rescued him, she got mad at him for pulling a stunt, slapped him and then they made out. Mienshao was there, too."_

"_They did what!"_ She tackled into me, knocking me onto my back and stood above me quickly, her face just inches from mine. _"Details, Pikachu! Why didn't you tell me this before? What happened? Did they—"_

I huffed in frustration. _"First of all, get off!"_ I shoved her off and brushed the sand out of my fur once I sat up. I looked at my poor sand castle, pouting a bit. I'd just have to re-build that master piece. _"Secondly, I already told you what happened. You don't really need any more details than that."_

"_Do you not understand how much of a boost this puts into their relationship?"_

"_I'm aware. I was there."_ I blinked. _"That rhymed unexpectedly."_

"_Pay attention, Pikachu!"_

"_Okay, geeze! Sorry!"_

She sighed. _"We'll just have to make them kiss each other again. It can't be too awkward anymore if they've already done it twice in one day."_

I tilted my head and started gathering some more sand to rebuild. _"Why?"_

"_I have to see it happen, of course. It isn't the same if you just hear about it."_

"_Both times were kind of a spur-of-the-moment situations."_ I tapped on the sand to flatten it on the bottom. _"Do you think a sand castle should have a mote? I think it should."_

Espeon narrowed her eyes. _"You have to help me."_

"_With what?"_ I asked innocently, working on the second layer of my castle.

She sat beside me again, her eyes now locked onto the two trainers that finished eating their burgers. _"Help me make them kiss each other again."_

I blinked and flicked my ears, looking up. _"Why me? Go ask Mienshao, she would enjoy it more than me. I got my paws full with this. I'll make it look awesome."_

Espeon glowered at the castle as I found a seashell and put it against the wall. _"It looks like it'll fall over any minute now,"_ she said accusingly.

"_Does not!"_

I grabbed a small twig that had been used as the flag at the very top before Mienshao had crashed into it and put it there. Before I could fully admire my handiwork, Serperior had slithered behind us, looming over both of us. Startled, I squeaked and fell backwards, my fall broken by—you guessed it—my castle. _"I'm not building another one,"_ I mumbled to myself as Espeon snickered.

"_I couldn't help but hear you two plotting to get them to kiss again,"_ he said.

Espeon nodded. _"We need a situation, according to Pikachu."_ She looked over at Red and White as they continued to talk to each other and stare out at the ocean. _"We're in a perfect place. The sun will set soon, there's no trouble—"_

"—_No Mew or Mewtwo to ruin it—"_ I added.

"—_And they seem to really like each other."_

Serperior looked between us and then lifted his head to look at White and Red for a moment. _"Very well. I'll help."_

Espeon looked at me triumphantly and I sighed, rubbing my face. _"So what do we do, Ms. Smarty-Pants?"_ I asked her.

She thought for a moment. _"The easiest way would be for them to trip and have one fall on top of the other."_

"_Really?"_

"_You have a better idea?"_

"_I do,"_ Serperior said and with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he straightened. _"All we have to do is set the mood."_

Setting a mood was harder than it sounded. For the rest of our stay at the beach, we were constantly trying to put them into a situation where the two humans were close enough to kiss each other, and every time Espeon especially was foiled, she stomped her paws into the ground. I laughed at her failures, but she refused to give up, determined to see them kiss.

Their third kiss hadn't happened yet, but Espeon looked at Serperior and I, her tail flickering back and forth. _"We need them to kiss before nine tonight, before we meet with Lance,"_ she declared.

"_Why? They can kiss afterwards,"_ I replied and Serperior nodded in agreement.

There was a sly chuckle that escaped Espeon's jaws. _"That's why we're getting help!"_

I blinked and looked up when I heard White squeak with shock. I groaned when I spotted Mew floating above White and Red, grinning happily at the startled couple and waved innocently at us.

"_Oh boy."_ We were going to need a lot more help if Mew was on Espeon's side.

X-X-X


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: **I finally got a new 3DS after not having one for a few months! My roommate got me one for my birthday, haha. Anyway, my new FC is on my profile, just make sure to PM me yours if you want me to add you too!

**SebatadeS: **Thanks!

**Pokefan02: **He is! And thanks, I think I like this picture better. I found it on google, so if anyone knows the original artist, I'll credit them, of course.

**fluffpenguin: **Of course it's still happening, read on and find out :D

**LEGAL-EAGLE53: **Haha, maybe he did. Calem does have a female Mega Charizard Y, like I did in my own game. As for Mew and Espeon, they're known to cause mischief, so Pikachu's just being cautious lol.

**RandomReview: **We got a while to the end ;)

Happy reading and enjoy! :D

* * *

_17_

_Espeon_

When I was a little Eevee about two months after joining the team, I was asked by Pikachu how old I was. Needless to say, I slapped him with a paw and heard Red snickering from behind us at our interaction and quickly hid it when Pikachu glared at him. Pikachu told me that I was the youngest, but even after arguing with him about it—I thought _he_ was younger than me—I learned that Venusaur was the oldest of us all, then it went Blastoise, Snorlax, and Charizard. Venusaur also confirmed that while Pikachu was younger than Charizard, he was older than me, if only by three days, much to the yellow mouse's delight.

After a little teasing from the electric mouse, I decided I would train even harder than he would so I would prove that I wasn't too young to beat him in a battle. He just told me that I had a long way to go. I began training on my own, waiting until Red was asleep at night and huddled in Snorlax's fur for warmth and I would wander off so I wouldn't make too much noise.

It was perhaps a month later or so, I knew I was a bit snappy with the boys and I tried to tone it down though my efforts were in vain as every little thing made me irritable, especially if it was caused by Pikachu. One night he followed me and told me that if I could beat him in a battle then he would let me keep doing what I was doing. He decided to mention how snappy I'd become and told me if he beat me, I would have to sleep at night just like the rest of them.

Of course I agreed, I could beat this little mouse any day! I regretted the decision not even three seconds in; I tried using a Quick Attack against him and he easily dodged it with his own Quick Attack but he didn't aim to hit me. I tried again and he dodged one more time. After a few more times of this, I snapped at him to fight back and to my complete and utter shock he told me, _"I'm worried about you. Why are you training in the middle of the night?"_

I was angry and ran up to him and used Bite against him, glad I'd finally landed a hit. He didn't make a move to dodge, but he did wince and tried to pull his arm out of my jaws. I let go and responded, _"Because I'm going to prove to you that I'm not weak!"_

He started laughing and successfully confused me. Why in Arceus was he laughing? I growled at him, irritated and demanded to know why he was laughing at me. _"I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at how stupid you can be!"_

I hissed loudly, my ears flat on my head. _"Say that again, pipsqueak!"_

"_Okay. I'm laughing how stupid you can be."_ He sat down, nursing his arm and ignored my hissing as he looked at me straight in the eyes. _"When did I ever say you were weak? To be honest, you're strong, Eevee. You may be the youngest, but that doesn't mean you are weak. But if you keep training at night like this then you'll just get worse. You wake up tired and you can barely keep up with the rest of us during training with Red. We're just worried about you is all."_

I finally stopped my growling and eventually sat beside him, staring at the ground. We were silent for a while before I mumbled, _"Sorry. About everything."_ I really was sorry, I knew how much stress I was throwing at the boys and Venusaur didn't like being stressed out so much.

He shrugged. _"It's okay. We also got tired of you being all touchy at every little thing. You'll get stronger if you stop this night training. Besides, it's more fun with others to help. Red trains us for as long as we need to and will find out what your weak points are and help you overcome them. Trust me."_

After that, I stopped training by myself at night. The boys were grateful for that; I got more sleep and was happier and after I evolved, Red helped me learn how to use my new psychic moves and eventually had me training with Snorlax. Two weeks before the championship match, he told me to pick him up. Astounded, even Snorlax tried telling the human that he was simply too big for anyone to lift but Red just said that he believed in me and turned to Snorlax and told him that every time I failed, he could have a whole basket full of his favorite berries. Snorlax stopped to think about it and agreed with a smile. I gaped at them. That would just make it harder!

I tried using Psychic to pick him up and of course I failed the first few times, panting when I realized it was just simply impossible to do! With Red feeding him more berries, I was sure he was just getting heavier and heavier by the day.

Two days before leaving for Victory Roady, I was frustrated enough to tackle into Red and even hissed at him for the first time and the others stopped their own training to stare and I could barely hear Charizard beginning to growl even as Red simply smiled and sat up, patting my head and told me to pick Pikachu up. I stopped hissing and looked at Pikachu, easily lifting him despite his squeaking. Then he told me to lift Charizard. Eventually I managed to lift even Blastoise and Venusaur, who were both startled and when I set them down, I realized how much easier it was to lift pokemon larger than me.

Pikachu began laughing at me again and I knew exactly why. He was laughing at how stupid I could be. Red knew I wouldn't be able to pick Snorlax up within a few weeks, but his odd request was to increase my psychic power.

He was allowing Snorlax to eat more than usual to keep increasing the weight slightly enough to force me to increase my efforts and strengthen my mental abilities—then I learned he was secretly training him when we were all in our pokeballs to increase his physical strength, thereby building muscle underneath that flab and making him even heavier. I realized he had already pinpointed a weak point, determined the best course of action and was trying to help me overcome it.

Now even more determined and on the day before the Elite Four, we were training in Victory Road though after a few hours, I gritted my teeth together and stared at Snorlax as he ate his fifteenth berry of the day. I squeezed my eyes shut in effort and by the time I heard Snorlax give a questioning sound and Blastoise make a startled noise, I opened them again and saw Red smiling when Snorlax floated just above the ground a few inches. Clearly, I was overjoyed and my concentration was broken almost instantly; Snorlax just complained about the rough landing as I tackled into Red again but this time I was licking his face and it caused him to laugh and try to shove me off.

I may be the youngest of the team, but I am certainly not weak. I was just the last to find out.

X-X-X

Mew has always been an excited, laughable little pokemon even during a dark day. She usually managed to bring a smile to someone's face, whether it be human or pokemon and always tried to keep a happy façade on. Tonight's visit felt a bit odd, though. She was smiling and laughing at the humans as usual but I could sense something was wrong but I dared not to ask. After all, if she felt up to it she would tell us what was going on and it would probably be when we went back to the hotel later tonight.

Currently, she was sitting on Red's shoulder—albeit invisible to the naked eye—and Pikachu took his normal perch on the other side. I walked beside the humans, staring up at them. I still had to figure a way to get them to kiss again and now that Mew was here, I knew she could help and I'm sure it would help cheer her up as well. I'll admit I was proud of myself for not tackling into them when the trainers took each other's hands as they walked calmly back towards the stadium.

I could also see that Red seemed more open around her, he would talk more, smile often and truly listen instead of just polite nods here and there. Pikachu told me White had slapped him, but given the situation, even I figured he needed some sense knocked into that stubborn head of his. I snickered to myself as I relayed what happened to Mew and I could hear her giggle as she remained on my human's shoulder. She patted his head with an invisible paw, causing a confused look to appear on his face as she said, _"It's okay, I forgive you for being dumb."_

White snickered from behind her hand. "She's right, you know," she teased.

Red only sighed as Pikachu bobbed his head up and down.

She then looked ahead of them as we walked towards the currently slow streets towards the arena. "You said you wanted to go to the stadium, can I ask why?"

"I want you to meet someone." He looked at her. "She'll probably yell at me because I'm late."

White's eyes glinted a bit with mischief. "Aren't you always late?" She laughed as he glowered at her. "Well, almost late to everything."

"Doesn't mean I am late."

"_We were on the S.S. Anne one time and he was late for boarding but they let him on anyway because they were nice,"_ Pikachu told her, knowing Mew was translating.

"_We were also late to Koga's gym match, we did that one in the middle of the night because we stayed in the Safari Zone all day and he waited until the last minute,"_ I added.

She laughed again and Red mumbled something I couldn't quite catch. "So who is that I'm meeting?"

"You'll see." He smiled at the frustrated look on her face and I rolled my eyes as Pikachu sighed at the humans.

We walked for a few more minutes until I noticed White and Red let go of each other's hands when they neared the stadium, the overly large building still full of people judging by the cheering still going on. There were a few people going in and out, but one person caught my eye, a girl that leaned against a building and was going through her pokedex, occasionally tapping on a few buttons.

Leaf noticed us coming when Pikachu shouted to catch her attention, looked up and pocketed it before getting up off the wall with a smile. "You're late!" she said as she ran up to us. She stopped herself from running into him with a big hug when she noticed another person with him and slowed down to a stop with a confused blink. "You're… White, right? Another champion?" She smiled and waved. "My name's Leaf!"

White smiled back and Red glanced at her. "Leaf is a childhood friend from Pallet Town. We grew up together."

She grinned mischievously, one hand on her hip and motioned towards Red. "I can tell you awesome stories, better than his mom's," Leaf added.

White laughed when he shot the other brunette a glare.

Leaf looked at the door. "That reminds me, where's the Professor? He said he'd be back any second."

"Professor?" White blinked. "Who?"

"Professor Oak. He's probably trying to find Blue, honestly." She sighed. "But knowing him, he probably got lost."

I nodded to myself. I knew how the old man could get lost easily, especially in such a large crowd like this. I yawned and stretched, going to Leaf and made a noise for her to acknowledge me. Leaf smiled and bent down to scratch my head behind the ears. She knew exactly where the good spots were and I ignored Pikachu's laughter as I began to purr. There were just some spots I couldn't reach! "I missed you too, Espeon!" she said delightfully. I nodded once in agreement as she giggled and picked Pikachu up from Red's shoulder to pet him as well.

She set him onto the ground beside me when he began to squirm—now that I think about it, I don't think he's ever shocked her before. I figured I could ask him later as we turned back to the main gates when we heard a very distinct laugh getting louder as they approached us. "Right on the mark, Blue!" said Professor Oak. He was only barely shorter than Blue and Red by about half an inch, but that was the only half-inch needed for Blue to call the old man 'shortie.' He patted his grandson's shoulder and looked at the rest of us. "How good it is to see you again, Red!"

Red gave him a single nod in greeting.

Blue, however, narrowed his eyes at Leaf and she returned the look with a simple smile. "What are you doing here, Leaf?" he demanded, looking almost annoyed.

"I was invited," she replied. "The only condition was to tell no one." She eyed him suspiciously. "Why? I'm not allowed to leave Kanto while you two dorks get to travel without me?"

"Dorks?!" I tilted my head at Blue as he gritted his teeth. He was acting awfully strange. "I never said that!"

Professor Oak interrupted them, looking towards White. "You must be White; Blue's told me all about you." He offered his hand to shake. "I am Professor Oak. Pleasure to meet you."

White nodded and took the hand. "You too," she replied.

The cheers suddenly grew loud and we all looked up in the sky when a large cloud of smoke billowed from an explosion. My ears twitched as I heard, _"Champion Iris has been defeated! The winner of our final match: Champion Cynthia!"_

White blinked. "Well, it's not surprising. Cynthia won last year's tournament and Iris just became champion not too long ago," she said.

"When do you think we'll find out who we battle tomorrow?" Blue asked curiously.

Professor Oak laughed. "Lance told me he would inform you both and Ethan tonight."

"When did he tell you that?" Leaf asked curiously. "I've been with you the whole time."

"Just now when I was looking for Blue, actually."

Red sighed. Typical Professor Oak, always getting information along the way of doing something else.

"Let's get out of here before the fans start to swarm us," Blue said as he started to walk. "I'm going to the hotel for the rest of the night, we can get some training in tonight, too."

Leaf grinned. "I want to join!" she exclaimed. She ran in between Blue and Red, latching onto both of their arms and pulled them close. "You can't do anything properly without me, anyway!"

"Leaf!" Blue objected instantly. "Let go!"

She scoffed and pouted at him. "Party pooper." She obeyed but took the chance to pull Red alongside her towards the chateau. "Let's go!"

Red practically yelped when she nearly ran towards it and he turned his eyes towards us with a silent plea to help him. Pikachu and I laughed at him then I glanced up as White ran forward to catch up, grabbing onto his free arm. "Leaf, how about we go there at the same time?" she suggested.

Pikachu tilted his head a bit and I laughed. White had, too, grown attached to our trainer and we could both see how jealous the Unova trainer was. As they walked ahead, I heard Blue sigh and rubbed his head. Professor Oak laughed. "He's certainly popular with the ladies, I see," he teased.

Blue snorted instead as he walked with him. "What? Lyra and Leaf aren't enough?" he stated. I could've sworn he was jealous of my trainer's popularity.

"_He's just too oblivious to see it,"_ I told them and walked forward with Pikachu also walking on all fours beside me. _"Besides, I think Lyra is just an eccentric young lady who enjoys being around people."_

He grumbled something and then said, "He told me she asked him to go shopping with her once on the mountain."

Professor Oak rose a brow then glanced at Blue. "Are you sure you're not the one who is jealous?" he teased.

"No!"

His grandfather laughed as we made our way towards the hotel. "You say that now."

Blue's face turned a light pink in embarrassment. "Gramps!"

X-X-X

Blue, Red, Leaf and White were sitting in Blue's room as Pikachu and I played with Jolteon on the bed, jumping up and down and eventually had to be stopped by the trainers before something broke. Arcanine was laying on the floor beside Blue's seat, panting in delight as Leaf sat next to him and scratched his fur. Professor Oak had gone off somewhere, saying something about meeting Red's mother, Diantha and Cynthia somewhere in town for dinner and Mew had taken the chance to meet Leaf by scaring the living daylights out of the poor girl.

White laughed when she screamed and nearly fainted but her laughter had stopped when Red caught her from hitting the ground. Even Blue could sense her jealous as he smirked from behind the cup of water he was drinking. He nearly choked on it when Mew nearly tackled into his stomach.

Red was quiet even as Mew came to sit in his lap and talk incessantly about random things as usual and Pikachu looked up at him. _"What do you think is the matter with him?"_ he asked me and looked up at me as I came to sit beside him.

"_He's probably tired. It has been a long day for all of us."_

Pikachu nodded at the brief explanation and we each turned to Blue as he sighed loudly with a stretch. "Today was eventful. So, while you were all of rescuing dumbass over there, Black, Nate and I were in the tunnel fighting Team Rocket," he said. Red's eyes narrowed at him, but he said nothing.

Leaf's eyes grew wide. "You were _what?!_ Don't tell me you're both doing dangerous, stupid stuff again," she said, her eyes full of concern for the two boys.

Blue instantly pointed to Red. "Blame him, not me."

She looked at my trainer, narrowing her eyes. "Why is it always you?"

"Not my fault," Red only mumbled, looking away to try and avoid the scorning. White just snickered at him.

"Anyway, we told you about those machines that Mewtwo destroyed, right? Even though we didn't catch all of the grunts, the police came and arrested as many as they could catch and one spilled. Told us of course they'd stolen a bunch of pokemon, but a guy named Proton or whatever was there and had Suicune in a pokeball and he claims that they have the other two legendary dogs with them. Turns out they're hunting the other legendary pokemon here for Team Plasma."

Leaf tilted her head. "Team Plasma?"

Red and White looked at each other and my tail thumped against the floor in my own irritation. What on earth were those people up to? _"Do you think the more legendary pokemon they catch, the better chance they have at ruling the world?"_ Pikachu suggested.

I looked at him. It wasn't a bad guess, but why go through all the trouble catching all of the legendaries?

Mew tapped her chin with a paw as White sat on the bed. "Do you think they know about some of us having our own legendaries?" she asked.

"Well, they know about Black and Rosa, that's a given." Blue leaned against his chair. "No idea if they know about Nate and Kyurem, or if Red's got Mew and Mewtwo on his side. Probably know about Dawn, she was announced as the Tamer of Giratina."

Red looked at Pikachu and I and I understood that silent sentence as well as Pikachu. We also had the three birds and even though they weren't physically here, I was sure Mew or Mewtwo could bring them to us just as easily as they teleported to us a few days ago. I just hoped we could keep that under wraps as well.

Leaf leaned forward as Arcanine stretched. "If they are going after legendary pokemon, it would make more sense if they had legendaries on their side, too. They need all the help they could get if they want to get past you guys to do whatever they want," she told us.

"_I like her, she's smart,"_ Mew announced and flew from Red's lap to float in front of Leaf. _"Mewtwo destroyed a weird machine that could control Suicune, so there's no doubt that they can probably build more for more legendaries." _She turned towards the others. _"If they can control legendary pokemon, they can probably control other pokemon too, caught or not."_

White frowned. "And use our pokemon against us," she said quietly, taking a glance at her pokeballs.

I sensed Red's worry flare as he looked at us two as well. Pikachu stirred nervously on his paws but smiled instead. _"We'll be okay. They can't control my stubborn self!"_ he told us.

I couldn't help but laugh. _"You finally admit that you're just as stubborn as he is!"_ I exclaimed and ignored Pikachu's instant argument.

Blue ignored us as he crossed his arms across his chest with a loud sigh. "This is too stressful. Haven't we already saved the world once?" he whined.

Red snorted at him.

"_You only helped us in Saffron City. Barely,"_ Mew told him.

"You didn't even do anything!"

Leaf grinned and held out her own pokeballs. "We can help too!" she said. "I've gotten loads stronger! Although I'm not as good as you guys, I can still help!"

Blue narrowed his eyes. "Not as good as us, my ass," he mumbled. "You trained with Red behind my back again, didn't you?"

Leaf giggled at him. "Maybe," she replied in a sing-song voice. "It's not like I can beat you easily, anyway. I've only won maybe twice out of how many times?"

White looked curious and sat beside Red, who only rolled his eyes at Leaf. "You've been teaching her how to battle?" she asked him quietly as Blue and Leaf began to talk amongst each other.

I nodded at her. _"She was horrible at first,"_ I told her, making sure Blue and Leaf couldn't hear me.

"_She's gotten loads better, though,"_ Pikachu added. _"Doesn't mean she's a natural at battling like Red and Blue are."_

"How long have you been helping her out?" White smiled, taking his hand.

Red paused, trying to think and finally replied quietly, "Two years? Maybe three."

I looked at Leaf as she began to argue with Blue, something about not being strong enough yet on her side. She had gotten much better at battling and even though she didn't pick it up nearly as fast as Red did, she was a formidable opponent now. She had picked up a few habits from Red, teaching her team a few hand gestures instead of yelling the moves like everyone else usually did.

White stood up, glancing at the time and then at Red again, smiling. "Since we have a little time, you should come with me. Bianca and Cheren are here too! Cheren's one of the gym leaders now, and Bianca is Professor Juniper's assistant."

Red blinked curiously as Leaf and Blue stopped their arguing once Arcanine shoved himself in-between them, looking quite irritated at their constant bickering. I sighed at them. Now that both Leaf and Ethan were here, there wouldn't be any stop to the arguing, would there?

As the two trainers landed right on their rears, Red stood from his chair. "Where are you two going?" Blue asked and stood up again, rubbing his bottom. "That hurt, Arcanine."

Arcanine simply snorted at him. _"Then stop arguing. It's annoying,"_ he told his trainer. Jolteon nodded in agreement, remaining quiet as he came to Blue's feet as well.

"I'm going to meet my friends. We've got ten minutes. I'll make sure he goes to see Lance in time," White replied and took Red's hand as she led him out.

"Don't be late!" Blue called after us.

I turned my head at the other two Kanto trainers and as I walked out, I saw Blue sigh at Arcanine and Jolteon but what made me blink when the door closed was Leaf's startled face. I walked behind White and Red as Pikachu jogged to catch up to me. _"Do you think Leaf is jealous?"_ I asked him.

Pikachu blinked slowly. _"Why would she be jealous?"_ he asked.

I could hear Mew snicker as she floated above us, remaining invisible. _"Probably because she's got a super huge crush on Red,"_ she told us.

I nearly tripped over my own paws. I had never seen nor sensed her affection for our trainer! I glanced up at the invisible space Mew was flying in and then up at the two humans walking down the stairs. _"You think she likes him like that, too?"_

"_Of course!"_ She started to cackle, causing Pikachu to make a face at the noise. _"Red's got his own personal harem!"_

"_Would that would mean Leaf could take away his feelings for White?"_ Pikachu asked.

I shook my head. _"Leaf wouldn't do that."_ I sniffed. _"Maybe. But she isn't the type to barge into other people's relationships."_

"_And you're forgetting someone else, too,"_ Mew hummed. She made herself barely visible, and on her face was a huge grin, her tail swishing back and forth. _"She might be the one to 'barge in'."_

"_Who?"_ Pikachu asked innocently.

I sighed at him. _"Lyra. Don't you remember Blue telling Professor Oak that he's got Leaf and Lyra?"_

He glanced at the humans again as White stopped at a door and knocked on it. _"So then if Lyra comes, too, then there will be a war?"_

Where in Arceus' name did he assume there would be a war for Red's feelings? I rolled my eyes at him. _"I wouldn't call it a war."_

Mew held up a fist. _"If there's gonna be a war, I'll win!"_

"_You _too_?!"_ Pikachu exclaimed.

She laughed again, this time loudly and held her sides, causing White and Red to look at us curiously. _"No, dummy!"_

"What are you guys talking about?" White asked.

Mew looked up at them mischievously as she turned invisible as the door opened. _"You'll find out one day,"_ she told her.

I rolled my eyes and looked up as a young lady wearing glasses answered and I was afraid her face would break she smiled so suddenly and largely. "Hilda!" she screeched, tackling into White with a huge hug.

White laughed and returned the giant hug. I blinked slowly. She didn't even look annoyed that she had called her Hilda at all. "Hi, Bianca!" She let her go and stepped to the side. "This is R—"

"You're Red!" Red looked startled when she hugged him as well. "Hilda's told me all about you! Plus, I saw your match against Serena—it's like everyone says!"

Red blinked. First Blue telling Professor Oak about White and now she was telling this blond girl about him? I snickered at his bewildered face before he simply nodded as she let go.

"Like everyone says?" White asked curiously.

Bianca nodded as she let us in. "Yup! Even Cheren says that he's supposed to be super strong!" She grinned and winked at her. "But I think Black is better."

White shrugged. "I have faith in both of them," she said with a grin as Red scowled playfully at her. "What? He's my brother, I know he's very strong and of course I'll root for him, too. But we'll see if you go up against him." She looked around the room. "Where's Cheren?"

"Here." Red jumped when we looked behind us as the door opened. A young man was holding a brown paper bag as he closed the door behind him and pocketed the room key. He paused when he saw us all and gave a polite smile. "My name is Cheren. I am the gym leader of Aspertia City." He then looked at White. "You should visit us more often, Hilda. You and Hilbert."

I blinked and so did Red. Usually she would begin to argue if someone else called her by her real name, right? Red glanced at me and I shrugged. Perhaps they were close friends.

White smiled and nodded. "I'll tell him. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and introduce Red to you. We have to go somewhere soon."

Bianca blinked at her. "You came to introduce him to us?" she asked curiously, looking at Red again.

I knew Cheren caught on quicker when his eyes widened a fraction. "I see. You are a couple, aren't you?" he asked.

The blond girl instantly squealed, running to them both. "Finally you found someone!" she cried loudly. Red was blushing slightly when Bianca took their hands and made them hold each other. "See? You're a perfect fit!"

"Bianca!" White shouted, her face tinged pink as the girl smiled again.

"You two should go before you're late to whatever," Cheren said as he took a bite of food that was in the bag. "Bianca will hold you hostage for hours if you let her. I suggest you two go before you're late."

"That's right, I'll come back later," White told Bianca and smiled, hugging her. "I promise! I'll even drag Black."

We left their room right after and Pikachu even asked me if I thought those two were dating each other. I just shrugged, deciding to keep my nose out of their business.

We went down the hall towards the dining hall and even from here, I could hear Blue arguing again, but this time it was Ethan. We stepped inside and I saw it was pretty empty with the exception of Blue, Ethan and Lance sitting at a table with a few drinks. Lance looked rather annoyed but did nothing to stop them from arguing and looked up as he spotted us coming in. He glanced at the clock on the wall and turned his head back to face us. "I'm impressed you're actually on time," he said.

Red scowled at him but sat down beside Blue as White took the seat between he and Ethan. Pikachu hopped up onto Red's shoulder and then to the table, sitting there as I jumped into Red's lap, remaining there as he held me in place so I didn't fall off. "Where's Leaf?" White asked curiously.

"She's in my room, said she wants to brush Arcanine. Said he's got a bunch of knots in his fur," Blue said with a shrug.

Lance sat up a bit. "All four of you are in the next round of the tournament so congratulations on that," he began and caused us all to look at him to listen. "Today there was supposed to be an additional match with Alder against Wallace, but something came up in Hoenn and Wallace had to leave."

"How come?" Ethan asked, blinking. "I mean, it's kinda lucky, because now there's an even amount of people battling I guess."

Lance glanced at him. "In Hoenn, in Sootpolis City, there is a cave where a legendary pokemon lives. No humans are allowed inside it, pokemon are free to come and go as they please." He looked at the rest of us. "Apparently the legendary pokemon supposedly resting inside disappeared. That pokemon's name is Groudon." He reached inside of his cloak and pulled out a newspaper, pushing it forward. "I assume it is missing because of either Team Rocket or Team Plasma."

I looked at the headline, blinking slowly. A major drought? It wasn't that, it seemed like the sun was burning anything up and the heat had drastically increased years ago in Hoenn. Was this Groudon's power?

"Hoenn was lucky no one died during that time, Brendan and May stopped both Groudon and Kyogre from doing any serious damage to the region."

Blue blinked. "Kyogre?"

Lance nodded. "Kyogre caused the region to flood, whereas Groudon dried it right up."

"So, where did Kyogre go then?" Ethan asked, resting his head on his hands.

"May caught it while Brendan managed to calm Groudon enough for it to return to the cave. Wallace is investigating who could have broken inside and should return after the final round."

"What about Alder?" White asked, leaning back in her own chair. "Where'd he go?"

Lance shook his head and looked at her as Red began to scratch my ears. I nearly began to purr again. "I don't know. He disappeared."

Her eyes widened. "Disappeared?"

"More like left without a trace. Seems like he left willingly but we don't know where he went. Any idea, White?"

She rubbed her chin. "Well, he's known to wander off whenever he feels like it. He cares about pokemon a lot so it's got to do something with pokemon." She fell silent and blinked. "Maybe it's got something to do with Keldeo." She looked at the rest of us with our blank faces. "Keldeo is a legendary pokemon that lives here in Unova, it wanders around protecting other pokemon. From the rumors I've heard, it's really close with Alder. Alder is a nice guy and loves pokemon more than humans, so it's possible something happened to it and he's gone off to investigate. Knowing him, he probably doesn't even care about the tournament."

"Then we'll just have to wait until he returns," Lance said and sighed then rubbed his chin. "Anyway, Red." My trainer looked up from scratching my head and my ears twitched a bit. "What you did today was both brave and stupid. I told you not to do anything reckless."

"Not like he could help it though, Lance," Ethan said carefully. "If he didn't do what Archer said, he was going to blow the stadium up!"

"I understand that." He sighed. "I'm just telling you to be careful." He reached inside of his cloak again and pulled out the little switch Archer had before. "Now how did you get this? From what Brendan told me, you were tied to a chair. In no way could you have gotten this yourself."

Blue scowled. "Yeah, how did you get it?" he asked, shooting Red a glare. I knew he was annoyed at him; Red hadn't told him the details about what happened, anyway.

Red let me go, forcing myself to remain balanced on his legs as he reached up to his head and picked something up off of his head, his hat being dragged alongside it. He held Mew forward, even though she was invisible. "She got it for me."

Lance looked confused. "Er, she…?" he asked, staring at the floating hat.

Red just nodded.

Mew started to giggle and finally showed herself, grinning at Lance. _"Yup! I got it for him!"_

Lance stared at her and then looked at Red and back again. "You… caught Mew?" he finally asked as he let her go, trying to grab his hat from her tight grasp, only to fail as she floated up too high for him to reach without standing up. Lance then looked at Red as she started to fly around in circles around the table. "How?"

"It's a long story," Blue said. "I only just found out, too."

Red shrugged, back to using one hand to hold me and the other to pet my fur.

Lance sighed loudly, mostly to himself and ran a hand through his hair. "You were never in any real danger, were you?" He smiled a bit as Red shrugged and Ethan huffed. "You could have gotten out of that situation if you wanted to, couldn't you? So what was the purpose of letting them take you?"

"Buy time," Red finally said.

Ethan scowled. "You made me panic and almost lose a match because you wanted to _buy time_?" he shouted.

He nodded and turned to the furious Johto champion. "To find the bombs." Ethan's face blanched and he leaned back in his seat again.

Mew suddenly floated in the middle of the table, Red's hat now on top of her head. _"A psychic couldn't find it,"_ she said. _"Mewtwo and I tried to. It's like they tried to hide them like a dark-type can't be found by a psychic-type."_ She turned back to Lance. _"That's why we had to have you or others find them for us."_

Pikachu looked up at our trainer as he continued to brush my fur with his fingers. I knew Pikachu was both relieved and annoyed at the same time—Red could have at least told us what his plan was.

White looked guilty, however, fiddling with her thumbs. "Sorry," she said to Red.

Red glanced at her questioningly.

"I yelled at you and asked if you trusted us and then I hit you."

My trainer smiled. "I already said it's okay," he replied.

Blue sighed. "Well, that's over." He looked at Lance. "Gramps said you know who we're battling tomorrow. Can you tell us?"

Lance nodded and pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it. "Here we are." He scrolled down the paper. "First match is Blue versus Black, starts at nine."

Blue smirked and looked at White. "Sorry, but your brother's going down!"

"In your dreams!" White retorted.

Lance then looked at Ethan. "Yours is next."

Ethan leaned forward with a blinked. "Who's against me?" He smiled when Lance turned his eyes towards us. "Red? I'm against Red!"

"At noon."

I sensed Red's own excitement rise. It had been so long since we had a real battle against him, a chance to go all-out. Red grinned and looked at Ethan, the determined glares stabbing each other. Pikachu rolled his eyes at the teenagers as Mew put Red's hat back on his head. _"Don't worry, Red, I'll root for you!"_ she said.

"What about me?" Ethan whined.

"_You don't count!"_

"Next up at three is Dawn versus Steven. Finally at six is White versus Cynthia." He looked at her. "You have your hands full with her, White. She was last year's world champion and it's likely she can take it again."

White looked nervous. "I'm sure I can beat her!" she said.

Lance nodded and set the paper onto the table. "Good luck to all of you. I'm going to be there to watch you battle." He got up and started to walk around the table to head out. "I'm going to go to bed early. Good night, you four."

When he was gone, Ethan looked at Red with another grin. "I better get some rest too. You're going down! Blue, you better win so we can have a rematch after I beat Red!"

"Ha! In your dreams!" Blue retorted and stood up.

"Black will probably beat him anyway," White said, grinning as she got up with the rest of us. I jumped out of Red's lap as Pikachu took his spot on Red's shoulder and Mew on the top of his head.

"We'll see about that!"

The rest of us sighed at them as we made our way out of the dining hall. Blue and Ethan went up the stairs before we made our way to our room as well to give Red and White some privacy. Pikachu had hopped off of Red's shoulders again as he hugged White. She smiled up at him. "I had fun today. Thanks for dinner, by the way."

"Even though we were interrupted," he said to her. Mew huffed at him, crossing her paws across her chest.

White laughed and nodded. "Even though we were interrupted. Just make sure you squash Ethan tomorrow."

Red made a slight face. Honestly, I had no idea who was going to win tomorrow.

"Don't make that face. Believe in yourself a little more."

I watched as she pressed herself up against him a bit closer, causing an immediate blush to appear on his face as she smiled a bit and Pikachu rolled his eyes at them. _"We should probably leave them alone too,"_ Pikachu told me, tugging on my tail.

I scowled at him, snapping my tail out of his paws and returned my attention back to the humans. _"Why? I want to see them kiss, too,"_ I told him.

Pikachu shrugged and went to wait for us on the stairs. I could see him poking his head from around the bannister, though, and watched them as well.

They either didn't know we were still here or didn't care as Red leaned down and said something under his breath that I couldn't hear and White smiled and said something in response before the two planted their lips against each other. I smiled brightly and nodded in satisfaction, glancing at the stairs as Pikachu pointed up. I blinked and looked up, seeing two other trainers watching, one trying to quiet his laughter as the other had his hand clamped over his mouth.

I sighed at Blue and Ethan and they quickly ducked back into hiding when Red and White broke apart from each other. "Good luck," he said to her and she nodded before they let each other go. I giggled a bit as White wandered down the hall, knocking on a door and entered Cheren's room again, disappearing inside it.

Red stared at the door for a bit longer before he finally turned around and made his way for the stairs. Pikachu grinned at me, holding up three fingers. _"That makes three kisses!" _he told me. _"And this time, he's the one who kissed her!"_

I nodded in approval as Red stepped past us and went up the stairs before us. Pikachu and I quickly caught up, though he stopped at the landing and I saw Ethan grin at him with Blue as well. Red stared for a while longer until his face turned to the color of his namesake and Blue started laughing. "You are actually kissing now? How far has your relationship gotten already?" he said.

"Apparently they're really into it!" Ethan teased.

Pikachu was laughing as Red said nothing, quickly going upstairs.

Blue and Ethan followed. "There's nothing to be ashamed of, Red," Blue said. "In all actuality, I'm kind of glad you are not a hermit anymore."

"A hermit," Red said with a dead-pan look.

"Living on a mountain by yourself isn't actually sociable," Ethan added with a grin. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you got a girlfriend."

Red didn't object and looked at Blue with narrowed eyes.

Blue groaned. "Fine, I won't tell anyone either. But if your mom finds out, it's not my fault."

"Find out about what?"

All three boys flinched and looked at the stairs as Red's mother came upstairs, smiling at them. "Er… nothing! Night!" Ethan yelled, running into his room instantly.

"Scardey cat!" Blue shouted after him.

Red's mother blinked and smiled as she looked at Red and Blue. She kissed Red's cheek good-night and made her way for the stairs up to the third floor. "You boys get to bed. You have a long day ahead of you."

As she walked past them and disappeared up said stairs, they both looked at each other with a slight smile. "Don't do anything else stupid is what she means," Blue said to us.

"I won't," Red retorted and Blue laughed as he went to his room.

Once in our own room, Red released the others and groaned as he flopped onto the bed, kicking his shoes off in the process. I stretched as I hopped up onto the bed beside him, blinking slowly as he took his hat and vest off as well. The others were silent for a while before Snorlax tilted his head as he eyed our trainer. _"What happened?"_ he asked Red.

I translated and Red blinked when he heard, looking confused.

Blastoise sighed, pointing towards his chin. _"How did you cut your lip?"_ he asked.

Red gently touched it and shrugged. _An angry goon punched me,_ he replied nonchalantly.

I smiled a bit as Charizard grew angry, his wings flaring open. _"What do you mean by 'goon'?" _he demanded.

"_Team Plasma,"_ Pikachu said and began to tell the others what happened earlier today. Blastoise already knew what happened before being put into his pokeball but he looked just as angry as Charizard did when Pikachu was finished. The mouse looked at Red, who only shrugged again and made his way for the couch. _"At least he's safe now."_

Snorlax blocked his way to the couch, making Red look up at him. _"Red, you know very well that we could have helped you, too,"_ he scolded. I blinked. It was rare for Snorlax out of all of us to scold our trainer. I guess he was just as worried as Blastoise was, but he was the only one of the other four to not let his temper control his words. There was no reason for him not to be, either. He cared about our trainer just as much as the rest of us. _"Why didn't you call for us?"_

Red was silent for a while before he looked towards the three Kanto starters and finally responded with, _I didn't want anyone to get hurt. _He turned back to Snorlax. _That includes all of you, too._

Snorlax sighed, scratched his belly and then patted Red's head. I smiled at the gentle action from the giant pokemon, curling up on the bed to get ready for some well-deserved sleep. _"What are we going to do with you?"_ he mumbled to himself. _"You should stop doing stupid stuff."_

Red smiled a bit. _I'll work on it._

I stopped listening as I yawned. We had a long day ahead of us and I couldn't transfer our thoughts with his for too long unless I wanted to count myself out for tomorrow. I opened my eyes as I noticed Mew appear again, floating towards Red and looked down at the floor. _"What's the matter?"_ Blastoise asked her.

I lifted my head up as well, my ears twitching. That same face she made when she first appeared was set in stone on her face; a rare look of nervousness—or perhaps fear—was etched in her features made Red worried as he sat up a bit. She glanced up as he moved, eyeing him for a moment before saying, _"Alder isn't the only one who is missing."_

I was confused for a second. Who else was gone? I looked around and the others were also confused, looking between each other and myself but it was Red who was the first one to understand who she was talking about and his eyes widened. He stood up quickly, causing Pikachu to squeak when he fell to the floor unceremoniously.

From under his breath, he made each of us freeze when he said, "Mewtwo."

X-X-X


End file.
